Stargazing
by Nixi Stasia
Summary: Part 3 of Star's story- brief info of previous stories is provided in AN. Post series 6, but pre series 7 of Doctor Who. During series 3 of Sarah Jane Adventures. takes place during "The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith"
1. Prologue

**AN: And Star Song is back, in her newest story! Felt I HAD to do a x-over with her in, since Elisabeth Sladen is one of my favourite actresses- she shares the space with Alex Kingston! **

_**This is Dedicated** to_ Elisabeth Sladen- who without our childhoods would have been a lot duller. And my best friend, Kathy, who lost one of the closest people to her on Friday.

**Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who or Sarah Jane Adventures, but I do own Star Song. She is MINE *insert evil laugh here***

**Recap of previous stories~~~**

River found out she was pregnant with the Doctor's child and escaped to England, not knowing what would happen to her child and wanted it to have a normal life. After giving birth to her daughter, she left her at an orphanage, before going back to her own time and to Stormcage. Fourteen years later, Star (River and the Doctor's daughter) is working for UNIT where she meets the Doctor, River, Amy and Rory, and goes to help them on an adventure. River recognises Star as she'd seen Star before, but Star still had yet to meet her those times, she had. When they return Star to UNIT, River explains to them all who she is and tells Star that they only meet 6 times, but never in the right order. River also gave Star a diary for her to write in, and was told to give it to her the last time she meets her, so that River can read about Star's life. After saying goodbye to River, Star goes travelling with the Doctor.

If you wish to read the previous Star stories, they are called **Hidden in the Stars **and **Starry Eyed.**

**This is set during series 3 of SJA and between 6 and 7 of DW.**

**Please leave a review! X**

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Stargazing

Prologue 

Star's POV

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"Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to Star, happy birthday to you," the chorus of the well known song echoed through the console room completely out of tune, as I made my way down to the centre of the room.

Standing at the end of the railings, where the entrance to the TARDIS was, where the three people who I knew the best; Dad, Auntie Amy and Uncle Rory. Quite clear that the singing had come from them, I raised my eyebrows, growing curious as I realised they'd said my name in the song. Curiouser still, as I realised the room was filled with decorations, such as balloons, banners and ounces of glitter sprinkler around the room. Just as I came face to face with them all, I saw that they were all wearing party hats, as Dad let off a party popper- shooting sparkly ribbons over his head.

"Happy birthday!" Auntie Amy and Uncle Rory cried, with Dad coming in slightly late.

"Right," I said, trying not to laugh, "I hate to tell you this, but it's not my birthday for five days."

I was certain of it. Since I'd began travelling with dad, things had gotten rather confusing and keeping track of time was one of the hardest things to do. So, I decided to keep track of time by using my diary as everyday, at least writing at least the date. That way, not only am I able to keep track of how much time would be passing, but also, when Mum reads it she'll know that some days, I didn't not write in the diary, I just had nothing to write about. Though to be honest, I wasn't sure how much I was supposed to write in it.

"Oh great," Uncle Rory moaned, "We just spent half an hour teaching the Doctor the tune to 'Happy Birthday'."

"You did?" I raised my eyebrows again.

"Yeah, your Dad only knew the Gallifreyan version," Auntie Amy giggled.

"The Gallifreyan version?" I queried, "How does that go?... No, wait, sing it to me on my actual birthday."

"It is your actual birthday!" Dad cried.

"No it isn't!" I laughed, "It's in five days. I've been counting."

"Well then you can't count," Dad told me.

"I can. I was ahead of everyone in Maths when I used to go to school, though, yeah, that was nearly three years ago," I grinned.

"Oh, and on the subject of school..." Dad began but was interrupted by the redhead.

"But that's because of your advanced brain," Auntie Amy smiled, coming over to me and poking my nose, "Now whether you like it or not, it's your birthday."

"But it isn't!" I exclaimed.

"It is," Dad said, seeming upset or in some way, offended, "The TARDIS told me so."

"The TARDIS plays me Joan Jett," I shrugged, "That just proves she likes me better."

"But to be fair, Star," Auntie Amy began, skipping over to the chair by the railings, "It is your birthday; Melody told us so."

"Melody?" I questioned.

"River; your Mother," Dad explained. Of course, I'd forgotten how my grandparents always referred to Mum as Melody, because, as her parents, they had named her Melody.

"What did she say?" I asked.

"When you say it's your birthday, you mean the day you were taken in by the care home, don't you?" Dad asked- though it did sound like a statement.

"Yes," I replied, slowly, following Auntie Amy around the control room, "I told you that ages ago."

"Exactly, but you were born five days before that," Dad explained.

I stopped in my tracks and turned to face Dad. I felt like I should have been shocked, or at the very least pissed off for not being told sooner, but I wasn't. I wasn't a bit angry. To be honest, I was relieved. It didn't matter that I had always celebrated my birthday (though, to be truthful, I'd never had a proper birthday celebration) five days late. Maybe I wasn't angry because I was used to strange things happening every other day- if not everyday.

"Oh," I said simply, "Well, the care home didn't know my actual birth date, but they thought it wasn't more than a week."

"Yes, now we all know it is you birthday, can we please give you your presents?" Auntie Amy asked, seeming irritated, holding out a gift wrapped box, with a purple bow on top, "Look, we've had this present from your Mother for nearly two months now."

"Yeah, it's been driving us crazy not opening it," Uncle Rory agreed with his wife, "Knowing your Mother, it's something that will be completely inappropriate for a fifteen year old."

"Yep," the redhead grinned, "If it's just a diary I'll be very disappointed."

"I already have a diary," I reminded her, as I took the present from her, smiling sheepishly. I was about to open the box, when I stopped and looked back up, "You've been speaking to me like I'm a child."

"Technically, you still are," Dad pointed out.

"Am not," I frowned.

"Well, you certainly act like a stroppy teenager," Auntie Amy teased.

"Do not!" I cried, "And this is not how you treat someone on their birthday."

They all laughed, causing me to frown more. I rolled my eyes; I had a right to be stroppy if I'd just found out that my birthday was on the third of January, not the eighth (even though I was probably flowing through the time vortex at then, I still kept the dates the same as to what they would be- another thing my diary helped me do). Even though I wasn't that angry about that, they didn't need to know that I was hormonal. Probably because I'd never hear the end of it.

"Come on, Timehead," Auntie Amy laughed. Timehead was her nickname for me, which came from when she thought she was pregnant with my Mum and had wondered whether travelling through time would effect it- which it had, "Open it!"

Shaking my head at her desperation to see what Mum had given me, I began to carefully remove the silver wrapping paper. Even though I'd only met her once, it felt special. In fact, it felt all the more special that she'd actually managed to get me a prison and get it to her parents to give to me when timelines are so mixed up. However, I was slightly jealous that Auntie Amy and Uncle Rory got to see her a lot more than me. Even Dad saw her when I was asleep, which made me furious. It had taken me one whole week of constant adventures to get me over that.

Once I'd opened the present, I found a black box, which had a piece of paper stuck to the top. Recognising he handwriting from the letter which she left with me when she gave me up, I snatched it up and threw the box down on the chair, and pulled the letter up close to my face, so I could read it.

_Dear Star,_

_I'm so sorry that I couldn't give this to you in person, I can only wish I can. I hope you're doing well and are enjoying the travels with your Father. Though I do hope even more that you're staying safe. He isn't taking you to any dangerous places is he? Believe me, my dear, I know what he's like. I do recall my parents telling me about some Nazi camp though. You better stay out of trouble from now on. Make sure you do as your Father says- unless the TARDIS tells you different of course._

_According to your grandparents (or whatever you refer to them as) and the dates in my diary, you've still only met me once. That's ironic really considering I've met you five times, and I only have the time to go through which you have and vice versa for you. We know each other's futures and pasts, which is a dangerous thing, my child. Yet, as long as we don't say to each other, it should be okay._

_I do not mean to, nor do I wish, to go into the detail of the rules regarding our timelines, but neither do I wish any of them to be violated. The slightest thing could ruin all the time we have left together. That is the one thing I wish most of all, to never happen. Though at the point you are reading this and I am writing, I suppose that we both know everything runs slowly. But it isn't quite a one hundred percent confirmation. Remember this, time can be re-written. Also remember that your Father lies, though you most likely know that by now._

_Anyway, today, well, the time you're reading this, is your fifteenth birthday. Happy birthday, darling! I suppose I should've gotten to that sooner into the letter, but alas. I've heard that as your present from your Father is offering you a trip to wherever you wish, in the TARDIS. Personally, I don't think it's that good. After all, you have a TARDIS at your disposal everyday, don't you? Though the TARDIS does not always go wherever your father wishes it to, it should for you- it certainly did for me! However, in the odd chance that the old girl may slip up, here is my present to you._

_In the box that this letter is attached to, is a device called a Vortex Manipulator, which basically does what it says. It's what your Father calls 'cheap and easy time travel' but considering the TARDIS goes through the actual vortex, whereas the VM just finds it's way to different places and times, I think it's a lot better._

_Your Father will show you how to use it, if not the TARDIS will, and be safe with it! I don't want to hear back from your grandparents next time I see them that you've managed to break in to high security planets, or anything at all like that! Though I may sound slightly hypocritical saying that seeing as I do things like that quite regularly. However, I'm purely giving this to you for practical use so you can get out of sticky situations in a flash. See, I'm giving it to you for the best._

_Happy birthday again, sweetie. And don't worry (my parents tell me you have been), you'll see me again soon. Until then, have fun on your adventures._

_All my love, your Mother xxxx_

-X-X-X-

"I told you, that you'd enjoy it," Dad said, sounding pleased with himself, as we made our way back into the TARDIS.

"Yeah- I can't think of a better way to of spent my birthday," I smiled, sarcastically- something I wouldn't have done, if Dad had known what sarcasm was.

Amy rolled her eyes at me and laughed. It was obvious that both her and Rory had known that I would hate my birthday present from Dad. It had turned out later, that Mum was right about Dad and that he would let me choose where to go. Technically, I'd done that everyday for the past seven months, so it wasn't that much of a big deal. However, normally the TARDIS didn't always quite go to wherever Dad and me would want us to go. After pointing out both of those things, Dad went in one of his 'moods' and then decided that he would choose where he would take us all, for my birthday. He then chose, to take us to the Tudor times, to The Globe to watch one of the first showings of Macbeth. I was about to protest, but I didn't really have the chance as then Dad burst into a long line of stories about all the times he'd met William Shakespeare.

After watching the play, Dad had seemed very pleased with the performance, whereas I was yawning after just waking up from a very deep sleep. Since I was sitting in between my grandparents, they both noticed that within the first thirty minutes of the show I was beginning to fall asleep. Even though Dad was sitting one seat away from me, he could have easily noticed me snoring throughout the show, which just proved Dad had been enjoying the show, possibly a bit too much and that he'd decided to go there for his benefit; not mine. However, not wanting to upset Dad (since I'd already had to deal with stroppy him earlier in the day) so I decided to pretend that I'd enjoyed the play.

"I knew you'd love it! I can't believe you didn't know any Shakespeare!" Dad exclaimed, as he started the TARDIS up.

"It's not my fault," I said, rolling my eyes, "Yeah, I mean, she was in school till what age? Twelve?"

"Twelve," I confirmed.

"So that's what? Year seven, eight?" Amy checked.

"Seven- I left in May," I answered.

"Exactly, so they wouldn't have done any of Shakespeare for English or theatre studies," Amy explained.

"Oh, yes. Thank you for reminding me, Amy," Dad said, looking at the redhead gratefully, as she gave a look of annoyance, as Dad turned to me, "Now, Star, I've been speaking with..."

"No one!" Rory cut him off, suddenly.

"Huh?" I muttered, confused.

"Nothing," Rory said, awkwardly, "It doesn't matter..."

"We'll tell you later," Amy said.

I raised my eyebrows.

"Are you staying tonight, then?" I asked.

"Well, go on then," Rory grinned, "Seen as it's your birthday."

"Can we go somewhere tomorrow?" I asked Dad, "Like, all of us."

"We can," Dad nodded.

"Great," I smiled, giving a thumbs up, "Now, I need to go and write in my diary."

"And write about how much you loved Macbeth?" Amy teased.

"No, thank Mum for the present," I called, after her, as I ran up the stairs towards the corridors.

After making my way down the many corridors, I came to my room. I entered the pass code into the grid at the door- that Dad had put there after an argument between us, where I was adamant that I'd need it one day and I'd eventually won (a pretty easy thing to do, when you can bring up all the points there are to help you for your argument when you travel through space and time on a daily basis)- and then made my way into my bedroom. I jumped up, so I could reach the blue diary, on top of the wardrobe. The pen, that lay on top of the diary, fell after the impact of my hand hit against the diary and tumbled towards the floor, landing with a clatter. Sighing, I bent down grabbed the pen and opened my diary to the next plain page.

I didn't have much to write about (since I'd dozed off for most of the afternoon) but recently, I'd started to write as if I was writing to a letter to Mum. It was kind of strange considering I'd done it automatically, but it made sense from a psychological perspective; I was missing her.

_Birthday today. Fifteen now! Thanks for present, Mum! Missing you tons. Hope to see you soon._

_Dad took me to see Macbeth in 16th Century English. Boring! I fell asleep! _

Not knowing what else to write, I put the diary and pen back in their place, then made my way back down to the control room. After making my way down the many, long, bendy corridors, I eventually found myself back in the control room. As I made my way down the stairs, I saw all three of them crowding in one corner, speaking in a hushed whisper- but not quiet enough.

"Well when do I tell her, then?!" Dad asked, my grandparents, in his clueless voice that reminded me of a puppy.

"Tomorrow, or the day after," Amy answered.

"Why not today?" he asked.

"Because it's her birthday; and no one wants the news that they're going back to school on their birthday!" Amy scolded.

"Who's going to school?" I asked, in a raised voice. All three of them turned to look at me, before exchanging several nervous glances between each other. Dad looked at Amy helplessly, until she let out a hopeless sigh.

"Fine," she snapped, "Tell her."

"Oh, no. N-n-n-n-no," I stuttered, "You are not sending me to school!"

"See!" Amy cried, "I told you she'd act like this!"

"No you didn't!" Dad protested, "You said she'd have one of her teenager-y hormonal breakdowns. They're much worse than this!"

"Hey!" I yelled, but I was ignored.

"What, you rang us up two weeks ago saying 'Amy, Rory what do I do? She's having an emotion?!'" Rory impersonated. I would have laughed, but considering it was about me, I was not in any type of mood to laugh.

"Well, I am supposed to know what to do?" he questioned.

"Hey, guys? I'm right here," I pointed out, in a very loud voice, "If you want to discuss my PMS, do it when I'm not around," they all stopped and I felt slightly proud of myself, as I brought the school situation back up, "What's this about me going to school? Because I'm not."

"No you are, and if you don't..." Dad began then looked towards Rory for guidance, "You will be grounded for two weeks... And I will not be taking you to see 'The Hidden Sun of Sarcvania'."

"Auntie Ames," I said turning towards her, in a moany voice.

"I'm not getting into this," she replied, putting her hands up, as if she were surrendering.

"Why are you insistent on me going to school?" I asked Dad, "I'm not stupid am I? Because if I am, you can teach me... It's not my fault I don't understand how to factorise equations."

"It's nothing about that!" Dad cried, "I just decided that you should get an education incase..."

"Incase what?" I asked.

"Incase you decide to stop travelling and have a normal, boring life," Dad answered,

"Yeah, you're really selling it to me there," I shrugged, "You're not trying to get rid of me, are you?"

"What? No!" Dad cried, looking and sounding offended.

"Because I could be at school for a day and you could be gone for months before coming back... You're not going to leave me somewhere are you? Not at Auntie Ames and Uncle Rory's!" I recited, quickly, as if rehearsed far too many times.

"What's wrong with ours?" Rory asked, slightly offended.

"It's a bit boring- only a tiny bit. It wouldn't be boring, but it is for me, because I watch things blow up everyday," I replied.

"Or stop them going off," Dad pointed out.

"Sometimes," I shrugged, "But I am not going to school!"

"Star, honestly, it won't change anything," Rory told me, "We just all think it would be good for you if you have some sort of a normal life."

I sighed and flopped down onto the bottom stair, crouching down on it.

"I'm not going," I told them, but it was clear I'd already lost.

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**AN: And I wonder what will happen there... Summary kinda gives it away. :D **

**Anyway, if you read, leave a quick review. Just quick two words will do! I review your stories if you do, or put you on follow if you haven't read any stories yet! **

**Anastasia xx**


	2. 1 Me? Normal?

Stargazing

Chapter One, Me? Normal?

Star's POV

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"I hate you," I muttered, as I made my way down the stairs and into the TARDIS control room, in the uniform of the school that I would be attending in just a few minutes.

"No you don't," Dad smirked, from the centre of the room and earned himself another scowl from me, making Amy and Rory laugh childishly.

"I do," I frowned, "I actually, properly, hate you."

"You sound like a child," Amy, who was standing behind Dad, teased, after exchanging a quick glance and an eye rolling with her husband.

I said nothing, but let out a small groan, as I threw myself against the railings and lent against them. Scowling, I stared down at my feet, which were wearing a horrible pair of black dolly shoes. The rest of my attire and appearance didn't get any better than that either. A few days after my birthday, Amy had taken me shopping, saying it was part of my birthday present when really the only thing we'd bought for me was the school uniform and a trip to a hair salon (where they'd done some things to my hair that I'd rather _not _mention). Now, I was dressed in a long sleeved, white blouse with a green and blue tie, black cardigan that Amy had told me to tighten up with a belt around my waist. I was also wearing a skirt- something I hadn't worn for years- and navy tights.

After looking in the mirror in my bedroom just a few minutes ago, my opinion had still not changed; I looked terrible. Why did colours of uniform have to be so plain and dull anyway?

"Here's some stuff I printed off about the school last night," Amy grinned, thrusting a pile of papers into my hands, "It's just rules and regulations. But there's a bit about the actual school itself."

"Park Vale..." I read out from the title, "In Ealing?"

"The only one that would take you," Rory told me.

"Really? Well, they're quick to judge," I murmured, although I appeared to be perfectly audible to the others.

"I think it was more of the fact that you had no records or references from any school for three years," Rory explained.

"So why did that one take me then?" I questioned.

"They have some rule about not declining anyone a chance at an education," Amy shook her head.

"Great; I'm going to be stuck in a school with loads of idiots!" I exclaimed, throwing my arms down by my besides.

"Actually, I think it's more people with behaviour issues," Rory pointed out.

"Same thing," I grinned, earning myself a playful on my arm from Amy, who then grinned back; she'd told me many times that she and Mum hadn't behaved the best at school. Though apparently Mum was a lot worse, being in and out of the principal's office every other day and getting suspended several times. I think Amy and Rory were curious as to what my behaviour would turn out to be like at school.

I shook my head, giggling slightly, before making my way down to beneath the control panel, where Dad had put a kettle (mainly because he kept getting sudden cravings for tea while flying the TARDIS) where I switched it on at the plug, already being filled– probably because others had made a brew not long ago and put too much water in. Amy had obviously followed me down, as I felt her flick my hair from behind. Frowning, I turned around to face her.

"Your hair is really nice like that," she smiled, "I'm so glad you got it done."

"I didn't have much choice," I frowned, "You forced me remember?"

"I didn't force you!" the redhead exclaimed.

"You did," I told you, then put on a Scottish accent, mimicking her voice, "You said 'Oh, come on, if you don't do it, I will drag you into that hair salon and make sure you have it done myself.'"

"I don't sound like that," Amy frowned, after a few seconds, while I played with a strand of my hair mopily. My hair, which had been bleached blonde, and chemically straightened, was now perfectly naturally; a dark honey. The hair's length itself, was a lot shorter than it was before, though the hairdresser hadn't cut any of it at all, however, my hair was now, a lot frizzier -or what Amy called 'curly'- and so after reaching my shoulders, now only just reached my chin.

"Err... I don't think it's that far off," I laughed.

"Huh," Amy chuckled, "Drama isn't your strong point, is it?"

"Of course not," I confirmed, "Did you not gather that from when we saw Macbeth a couple of weeks ago?"

"You have a point," she chuckled, as the kettle began to whistle, "So what subjects do you like?"

"I'm not sure," I shrugged, "What subjects are there?"

"Well, you're just going into year ten, right?" she questioned, I nodded in response, "So you'll already of chosen your options..."

"But I haven't," I cut in.

"Then you'll choose when you get there. You'll probably have to do some tests or whatever."

"Eugh," I groaned, making Amy laugh.

"Oh, and we found your Vortex Manipulator in your bag earlier," Amy said in a stern voice, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah. What about it?"

"You're not taking it; we told you, you're going to be a normal student!" she scolded.

"Really?" I asked, raising my eyebrows, "Me? Normal? Like that will ever happen!"

-X-

I pressed the button at the front of the gate, then glanced up and looked back at the sign, which stood about a metre above me.

_Park Vale Secondary_

_Aiming for the better_

_Head: Mr. H. Chandra_

_Vice: Mrs. P. Richardson_

The device attached to the gate made a sharp, but low-pitched beep before a blunt, echoing voice was heard from it. I swept a few messy strands of my frizzy hair back out of my face, while the voice spoke.

"Hello? Can I help you?"

"Um... Hi. I'm supposed to be joining here today," I said into the part that I guessed was the microphone.

"Can I have your name, please?" the voice, which sounded female, but could've been either- I really couldn't tell with it coming through a fuzzy microphone.

"Star Song," I answered.

"Ah, yes, we have your name here," the voice said, sounding like a smile, "I'll buzz you in. Come and wait at the front of the main office, please."

"Great, thanks," I thanked, just before a thick, shaky, rattling sound hit the dark green gate, as it was forced open by a button across the side of the road (basic technology).

Once the door was fully open, I stepped through and made my way through a small car park, that though only contained twenty-five cars or so, but was completely packed. The school looked as if it was made up of several buildings- all different sizes. The one that I was closest to (which I assumed was the main office and where the secretary or whoever, had told me where to go) looked as if it was the smallest, with only one floor. Three others were behind it, all having two floors. There was a field behind the car park that I could see to- I guessed where they would do P.E., though obviously not at this time of year. After all it was the middle of January!

I looked through the glass door, spotting a middle-aged woman sitting at a computer, through another layer of glass, a few metres away from the door. I pushed the door open (there'd be no need for a lock if there was the gate, and by the looks of things, another one, at the next door) and knocked on a small window, where I could see the receptionist sitting at a computer. She quickly responded, hurrying over to the window and opening it.

"Star Song, I take it?" she asked, once she'd opened the window through to me.

"Yeah," I nodded, nervously.

The anger for Dad, Amy and Rory had faded and had now been replaces by nerves. It was a strange feeling. Well, it was for me. Mainly because I rarely let myself feel nervous. I'd always forced myself to be super confident- even if I wasn't really feeling that. Therefore, I hadn't even thought about how it felt to be nervous. And even now, I couldn't explain it; it was like fear, but knowing you were scared; close to anxiety.

"You can come through," she said, with a small smile, pressing another buzzer, making the door beside me rattle, then open.

I stepped through and she met me on the other side, after making her way out of the office door, which I had been able to see clearly through the window. The school was bright, but plain. The walls which surrounded the office were all bricks, apart from one which was painted white- though the brickwork was obviously behind it. There was a list of the rules and regulations on a poster by the office wall, as well as advertisements for C_hildline _and _Young Carers _and two pairs of double doors. One was behind us and lead to a hall, with a stage, but was other wise empty and one that led to a set of corridors. Next to me, was a navy sofa that matched my uniform perfectly.

"Welcome to Park Vale, Star," she greeted, "I'll go and get the Principal and your Team Co-ordinator for you and they'll explain everything, for you. I'll only be a few moments; please take a seat on the settee," she gestured towards the sofa behind me.

After I gave a grateful nod, she made her way through the double doors and I sat down on the sofa. It had been freezing outside and now I'd stepped into a building, I was noticing that the heaters were turned up a lot higher than I'd expected (well, I actually hadn't considered what the temperature of the classrooms or the rest of the school would be) and I was beginning to get slightly overheated. When Amy had taken me shopping, she'd bought me a jacket as well, that I was wearing now. It was only fake leather, but it was very thick, so I took it off hanging it over the strap of the black and pink floral bag.

After a minute or two, two people entered into the welcome area of the school and came over to me. One- the one that was in front- was a man, with slightly tanned skin and dark black hair. He was dressed in a suit and gave me a welcoming smile- though it wasn't very comforting. The other person, a woman, smiled too, but in a slightly kinder way. She looked slightly younger than the receptionist; maybe thirty-five? Her hair was a brown and long and she wore glasses, with thin-rims and wore a pencil skirt and light blue blouse.

"You must be Star Song?" the man said to me, as he and the woman walked over to me and I stood up, "I'm Mr Chandra, the Principal."

"And I'm Mrs Stockton the key stage four Team Co-ordinator," the woman introduced herself, shaking my hand.

"I'm sorry," I pardoned myself, "But 'key stage four'?"

"Ah, yes, I understand that this is your first time at school for a long time and that you've been home-schooled for the past few years," Mr Chandra explained, "Key Stages are the way the years are set out. Here, we teacher key stage three, which is year seven to nine, key stage four, years ten and eleven, and sixth form, where you can do your A-levels."

"Right," I nodded.

"So, shall we go down to my office where I can explain everything?" he asked.

Not knowing what to do, I simply nodded and gave a small smile, before he lead us down through the double doors which Mrs Stockton and himself had just entered through and down the corridor. The walls were lined with different displays, mostly of it year sevens' and eights' work and a few bits of information about GCSEs and posters about sixth form. The third door on the right of the corridor was Mr Chandra's office (and was clearly labelled on the door) and was lead through into his office. We all sat down, Mr Chandra behind his desk and Mrs Stockton and me on two chairs in front of the desk. Behind him, I could see out of a window and a baron playground- according to the clock it was half past eight, so it was understandable; they'd all be in class.

"So, Star, can you tell me the name of your last school?" Mr Chandra asked.

"Um... Chingsford Riverside Secondary- I went for the first two and a half terms of year seven, then left just before the half term holidays," I explained.

"So that was three years ago, yes?" he checked.

"Yeah," I nodded.

"And you're now...?"

"Fifteen- just turned fifteen two weeks ago," I confirmed.

"Right," he said, making a quick note on some papers, "Your dad was very brief on the phone, but he explained how you;re from quite a difficult background. He didn't say anything other than that though, so while I understand this may be something you may not want to talk about, we have to know."

"Oh, know, it's fine," I shook my head.

"Good," he smiled, "So can you maybe explain a bit more?"

"Umm... Sure. Is there anything my Dad told you?" I asked. I didn't want to end up contradicting anything that Dad could have said.

"Well, he said that you had lived for the military- though he didn't say why- and that you've been travelling for the past few months," Mr Chandra replied.

"Right," I began, thinking up ways as quickly as possible to convert my real life into something he would believe and keep it as true as possible at the same time, "Well, grew up in a care home- until recently I didn't know my parents. I was never fostered or adopted, or whatever. When I was eleven, the care home shut down and I was going to go to a different one, when one of the carers decided she wanted a kid, but couldn't have any of her own. Her husband worked for the army and we were all sent to a base in the south of England. There, I didn't do proper work, but have been taught skills such as code-cracking and things like that. Last June, my real parents came to the base were we lived on some mission thing- they travel around the globe on riots against things to try and bring 'world peace' or whatever. We found out who I was and I went with them. However, not long after, my Mum was found guilty of... Murder, so she's in prison."

I'd noticed I'd grown a lot quieter towards the end. It wasn't long after that, that I realised I was fidgeting to. I had never spoken about Mum and her life in prison to someone other than her- and Amy once. I still wasn't exactly sure how I felt about it. I mean, there was no difference that it made for me; it didn't increase the amount of times I would see her over my lifetime. The thing was, she had _killed _someone. Ended someone's life. Dad had explained that it was an accident and no one- not even Mum- could have prevented it from happening. But apparently, the person she killed didn't really exist, so that she's been allowed out eventually.

"Ah," Mr Chandra said, "Well, if you are frequently upset over your Mother, we c an have you referred to counsellors who can deal with this sort of thing..."

"No, no, no, it's fine," I interrupted, there was no way I was developing a story that would be slightly related to my situation that could possibly help me, "My family are very supportive about it; I honestly don't need it."

"Very well," he nodded, then proceeded, "What about subjects?"

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Do you now your current grades in any subjects? Have you considered what options you'd like to take for GCSE?" he queried.

"No, sorry. To both of those questions. I honestly am completely lost here," I admitted, embarrassed.

"Not a problem," he shook his head, "Well, today what we'll do is give you some exams that will go through what grade you currently are. But before we do that, you'll need to decide on your options, a lot quicker than most students."

"Okay," I nodded, "So what subjects do I have to choose between?"

"Well, you'll choose one language; one humanities subject between triple and double science; one performing art subject; and one design technology subject," he explained, handing a list out in front of me, "If you choose triple science, however, you don't have to do either performing arts or design technology."

I immediately knew what to do regarding my strengths and weaknesses. First, I circled _Triple Science _(Using a pen that sat on Mr Chandra's desk)as it was by far my best subject. Then, I crossed out the _Performing Art _section, knowing I would not be able to do any of that well, then circled _IT and Media_ in the _Design and Technology_ part. Out of the _Humanities _column, I circled History, figuring it would be easiest since I had two ways of travelling through time daily. The only one left was languages, where I was completely stuck, seeing as I only knew the basics in French. Either way, I had to take at least one language. In the end, I circled French and left the German and the Spanish block plain, before handing it back to Mr Chandra- who hadn't said a word throughout my decision.

"Well, if you're sure on this, then everything seems to be in working order," Mr Chandra smiled, after scanning through the options sheet, "Now, I'll hand you over to Mrs Stockton."

I glanced over to the seat next to me, where the woman still sat- she hadn't spoken throughout the whole of the conversation with Mr Chandra, so I'd nearly forgotten that she was there.

"Star, what we'll do now, is take you down to your tutor base, where you can be introduced to your classmates and tutor," she explained, "Then, I'll come back to collect you and you'll do the exams Mr Chandra mentioned a few minutes ago. Tomorrow, you'll be put in classes set to your options and ability. Is that okay?"

"Yeah," I nodded, "That's fine."

"Perfect," she smiled and got up, "So I'll take you to your tutor base now, then."

I got up too, and after a quick thank you to Mr Chandra, followed Mrs Stockton out of his office and back out of the corridors and out of the building towards where my tutor base was. It turned out that my tutor Miss Douglas', a dance and drama teacher, classroom was set right at the other side of campus, in the theatre block (somewhere where I hoped I would never have to set foot it, other than for registration).

The classroom was in fact, a dance hall, which was labelled 10KD (the name of the class), and was split into two halves. One for desks and whiteboards and the other, a large space where people could perform their routines, or whatever they were doing. Miss Douglas, herself, was quite young, (it must have been her first tutor group- there was no way she was over twenty-eight) with short, auburn hair and quite a bit of make-up on. She did seem quite nice, though gave a few stern looks to some people in the class who were occasionally throwing paper across the room. The class did seem very chaotic, though that was nothing more than I'd expected.

There was one thing I hadn't expected though.

When I looked at the whiteboard, on the top corner was the date. The date that I thought would read the twenty-third of January, two thousand and twelve, but instead, read _23__rd__ January 2009._

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**If I don't get a chance to say it before; Merry Christmas guys! xxx**


	3. 2 Clyde Thinks He's Cool

Stargazing 

Chapter Two, Clyde Thinks He's Cool

Clyde's POV

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Rani, Luke and me were all sitting together, in registration, waiting for PSHE to start. Well, to be honest, I wasn't exactly waiting; I was enjoying what free time I had, before the perhaps most pointless and boring lesson would start. Honestly, we were fifteen now. Surely we all knew how to communicate properly and how to socialise. Even Luke agreed that we didn't need PSHE- and believe me, that was a very hard thing to do.

Luke was going on about how the Hydraulic system works for Rani and supposedly me- I honestly could not care less- when our tutor, Miss Douglas, spoke up, asking for silence. It took a while, considering there was twenty-seven of us, who were really hoping to miss as much of PSHE as we could. However, once the class noticed that the Team Co-ordinator for our Key Stage was standing there, we all eventually shut up.

"Right, everyone, today we have a new student joining us," Miss Douglas announced. For a teacher, she was pretty young and good looking. She was tall and thin, but- to be frank- quite curvy in places too. She'd taught us Dance the year before and she was the only reason I had chosen to do Drama for my GCSEs. Her hair was a deep blonde and clearly bleached, but it still managed to look realistic. She gestured towards someone who was standing next to her, "This is Star, who will be joining us for the foreseeable future. I expect you _all_ to help her and be welcoming, as I'm given to understand that she hasn't attended school for several years now. She'll be with us for this lesson, that completing exams later and throughout the day. However, her break and lunchtimes will remain the same as yours, so is there anyone who'd be happy to stay with her at break and lunch to make sure she's okay?"

I glanced around the class room to see if anyone did respond to Miss Douglas' question- if they would, it would be to make sure that they could stay in her good books. Believe me, you did not want to get on the wrong side of her. Luke was the first to shoot his hand up, but luckily, I caught him and pulled his arm back down before the teacher noticed. Annoyingly, Rani then shot her hand up. Brilliant, the one thing we needed was some lame newbie hanging around with us.

I used that chance to quickly gather any information I could about her. She didn't even look that pretty, well, she wasn't bad, but if there's a new girl joining smack in the middle of term, you kinda want her to be hot. Like everyone else, she was dressed in Park Vale's plain, dull uniform. She was quite small though, about the average height of a year eight. Her hair was slightly red, but with hints of strawberry blonde and light brown. It wasn't the colour of her hair that I didn't like, it was the fact that her hair was basically a nest. It came down to just past her chin and was made up of frizzy curls. Like most girls, she wore a bit of make-up; just a bit of mascara, and by the looks foundation.

"Thank you, Rani," Miss Douglas smiled, while I groaned.

"What did you do that for?" I hissed at Rani.

"Just being nice," Rani snapped back, quietly.

"Star, you can take the seat next to Rani, love," she said, gesturing for the newbie to take the seat between Rani and me. I let out another groan, as she made her way over to the seat, giving Rani a quick smile.

The class than turned back to its normal environment; loud and energetic- just how I liked it. Only, I didn't like how I had the new girl with us for the day. Well, it was only break and lunch, but considering that was the only time we got to be together other than registration, it ruined it all.

"Hi," Rani greeted, with a warm smile.

"Hey," Star smiled back, though she did look nervous, "Cheers for letting me sit next to you."

"No worries," Rani grinned, before turning around to introduce Luke and me to her, "This is Clyde and this is Luke."

"Hello," Luke smiled, "How are you?"

"I'm good- a little nervous, but cool," Star answered.

"Cool," Luke mused, "Clyde thinks he's cool."

"Yeah- I am!" I protested, frowning at Luke.

"Meh, you're not bad," Rani teased- I frowned at her too.

"Right," Star muttered, "This is going to sound crazy, but what date is it?"

"Twenty-third of January," Luke answered immediately, gesturing towards the whiteboard.

"Yeah, but like, what year?" she questioned.

"Two thousand and nine. Why?" Rani answered and then asked.

"No reason. Just, well, I travel a lot, so it gets really hard to keep track of time and stuff- sounds stupid I know, but... Well," Star shrugged, "Never mind."

"You're stupid- like Clyde," Luke nodded, and Rani gave him a look that clearly said 'What-the-hell-runs-through-your-head-that-makes-you-think-that-it-is-okay-to-say-that'.

Strictly speaking, it wasn't his fault. Sarah Jane and me were still trying to explain to Luke that not all things were okay to say aloud. Sarah Jane was trying to explain to Luke in a way that considered people's feelings, though, whilst I was teaching him to be funny- he still had yet to manage to be able to do either. Saying what he just had, just brought him off as naïve, stupid and maybe making him look like he had some type of syndrome.

"Luke!" Rani hissed, before turning to Star, who was looking a bit confused, but not at all offended, "Sorry about him, he's... Weird."

"S'okay," Star gave an awkward smile.

Just then, Miss Douglas came over and handed a planner nd some papers to Star. After explaining to Star that the papers were just basic medical information and the planner was for keeping a record of homework and notes that her parents might send in for the school to see, the teacher went off and Star began to fill in the boxes. It was hard not to be curious- and I couldn't say why- so I leant carefully over and looked at some of the things she was writing down.

**Full Name (Please include middle names): **_Star Gallifreya Amelia Song_

**D.O.B:** _08/01/1998_

I frowned at this point. If she was born then, she'd be eleven. Not fifteen. A second later, she scribbled over the '1998' and in its place wrote '1994'. Still though, how could someone forget the year they were born? Travelling didn't mean they'd forget their date of birth, did it?

And her name... 'Gallifreya'? What did that even mean? At first, I was confused to that, but then again, she had said she'd been travelling. If her parents travelled a lot, it was probably the name of some town or meant something philosophical in some other language.

I carried on watching, as she jotted down more answers.

**Medical Conditions: **_None_

**Names of Parents: **_River Song (Mother) John Song (Father) _

All in all, there were about twenty questions or show, asking for addresses of relatives to call in emergencies and other things like that. The only other thing that confused me-or that I found strange- was where she gave the details of the relative to call in emergencies, wasn't either of her parents, but her grandparents- who were apparently were called _Rory Williams_ and _Amelia Pond_. Why couldn't she give the address and phone numbers of her parents? Were they still travelling, while she stayed with her Grandparents.

I knew it sounded stupid, but there was something. Something strange about her. Something that even made me consider calling Sarah Jane... No, that was a stupid idea. It was too quick to jump into an assumption that she was Alien. However, there was _something_ strange about her. And I was going to find out.

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**AN: This update isn't as long as the others, but I felt I should give one more update before christmas, because otherwise, you wouldn't see an update for at least 5 days! So, I hope you enjoyed it.**

**Where the characters all in character? **

**Please leave a quick comment guys- two words, is all you need to say and I'm happy! :D **

**Anastasia xx**


	4. 3 You Are My Hunt!

**AN: Hope you all had a good Christmas! Here's my little Christmas present to all of you; an update! :D Hope you ell enjoy it! **

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Stargazing 

Chapter 3, You Are My Hunt!

Star's POV

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After the PSHE session with my new class finished and all the students began to make their way to their next class (Design Technology, I think Rani said it was), Mrs Stockton came back to the classroom and collected me. Rani had told me that she would wait outside the lunch hall at break and lunch for me and that it wouldn't be hard for me to find; I would just have to follow where most other people were going. The middle-aged woman led me back down the corridors, where we'd gone through earlier, but instead of going outside, I was led upstairs to another corridor- identical to the one downstairs- and into one of the many doors.

I assumed that it was her office; there was no sign on the door (well, not that I'd seen one, anyway), however, she did seem to know where everything was. The office was very cramped, but maybe that was just because it was very unorganised and messy. Piles of papers were strewn across the desk and a broken lamp, looked as if it had stood there for years- hence the thick layers of dust that caked the black plastic. A silver cabinet file leant against the musky walls and held a selection of red, blue and green folders, on top of it. At the back of the office, was a window, which had no blinds or curtains, yet still let in very little light.

Mrs Stockton pulled out a blue folder and the took the sheets that I'd filled in earlier and put them in a section of the folder, marked 'S' by a blue post-it note. One of the many piles of papers, were then handed to me.

"These are a selection of assessments that you'll be taking today- and tomorrow if need be," she explained, "Don't worry about any of the questions if you can't answer them; this school is equipped to teach all abilities."

"Okay," I nodded, looking down at the first test paper, which read **_Key Stage 3 Science, Levels_ 3-8, "**Key stage three? I thought year ten was key stage four?"

"It is," she replied, "But to know which group you'll be in for Science, we'll have to test you on your knowledge of the key stage three topics."

"Oh."

"You'll work on one outside, then when you're finished, come in here and be given the next one," Mrs Stockton told me, taking the rest of the papers from me.

"Outside, yeah?" I checked.

"Yes, the table just outside the office," she answered, "It's usually kept for children in the exclusion unit, so no one will talk or distract you, so there's nothing to worry about. And of course, you'll be given a normal break time and lunchtime, and I'll let you know when they are."

"Great," I nodded. It was just then, that I remembered the date on the board... 2009...Four years before I should have arrived. But they still had my name down, the receptionist said that she had my name down. But how could that be? It had been Amy and Rory who had signed me up for the school, in 2013. Yet, I'd turned up four years before that and they knew I was coming, "Though, Mrs Stockton, can I just ask something?"

"Of course," she smiled.

"Just... Umm... This is going to sound stupid, but..." I wasn't exactly sure how to ask the date without looking like an absolute idiot. Looking back at the test paper, I noticed a box on the front, where I had to fill in the date. Pointing to the box, I carried on, "What is the date, Mrs Stockton?"

"Twenty-three, o one, o nine," she answered, automatically, "Well, I'm sure you know the year."

"Yeah, two thousand and nine," I chuckled to myself, "How could I not know that?"

-X-

According to the clock in the cafeteria, it had just gone half past ten; break was only a few minutes in. Mrs Stockton had explained that break would last twenty minutes (until ten to eleven) and then I would have to make my own way back to her office, where I would finish work on a French assessment (which I knew I would fail; I barely knew the basics of French). I'd made my way through the science test without any difficulty at all, to be honest. It was just basic questions on things like particle theory, electricity and chemical reactions.

I was now waiting to meet Rani so she could show me around or whatever. It was only a few minutes into break and I knew I was possibly one of the most paranoid people alive, but I was almost certain she wouldn't come. One of the reasons I hadn't wanted to go to back to school, was because of what had happened at school when I was a child. I'd never had any friends and I'd pretty much always been alone. Back then, I suppose, it didn't matter, but now, I just felt like a loner. Even the kids with dirty hair and old clothes that didn't fit them seemed to have people to hang around with. Then, there was me, in an entirely different category that was, other than me, non-existent.

I was about to leave the Diner- though I wasn't sure where I would go- when Rani came along, with Luke- the boy I'd met earlier and had called me stupid.

"Hey," Rani greeted, "Sorry we're late; Clyde got in a detention, but we didn't know, so were waiting for him and my teacher kept throwing fits and let us out late."

"No worries," I smiled, "What'd he get a detention for?"

"No homework, back chat, being the class clown- the usual, really," Rani laughed.

"Hey, Luke," I greeted, turning to face him.

"Hi, Star," he replied, giving me a nervous wave.

"So what lesson did you guys just have? D.T. wasn't it?" I asked, trying to bring up some small talk.

"Yeah. I've just had textiles and Luke's just had IT," she answered.

"Cool. I'll be doing IT as well," I told them.

"What other subjects are you doing?" Luke asked, seeming to perk up suddenly.

"Triple science, French and history," I recited.

"No performing arts?" Luke asked, I shook my head, "Same as me. I'm doing French and German as well, though."

"You like languages, then?" I questioned, "I suppose I should be, having travelled a ton, but I don't really like them."

"Oh, yeah, you said. Where have you been then?"

"Well, I've been to Germany," I answered, remembering my first adventure with Dad, when I'd broken into a Nazi Prison Camp and been caught. Having been to a festival in Rio and twenty-second century China, I told him I'd been there as well- though of course, not saying anything that would give a clue that I hadn't been there in that time.

"How long have you been travelling, then?" Rani asked, seeming interested in my half-fake life.

"Not long, only since May, when I met my parents," I replied.

"What, didn't you know them before?" Luke queried.

"No; Mum gave me away when I was a baby and I never heard from her, or anything," I began, deciding that, if it came to it, I would tell them the story I'd told Mr Chandra and Mrs Stockton, "Then I met her and my Dad while I was living with my carer, at the Military. She recognised me from a photo or something and they told me who I was and there you have it."

"Oh, wicked!" Rani exclaimed, "That must have been really cool, like getting to know your parents while travelling the world."

"Yeah, it was good getting to know my Dad, I suppose," I smiled sadly, hoping I wouldn't look like an attention seeker.

"What about your Mum?" Luke asked.

"She um... I don't see her really," I shrugged.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Rani replied, smiling sadly too, "That must have been rough; having her leave you again. At least you've got your Dad though."

"Oh, no, she didn't run out on me again- in fact she didn't really abandon me when I was a baby- she's just... In prison," I admitted.

"Oh," Luke said, obviously not knowing what else to say, "Do you know how long she's in for, or...?"

"Life," I answered immediately, "She killed someone, so... Never mind about me, what about you guys?"

They both took the message, that I didn't want to speak about myself anymore and spoke up, giving me the details of their lives.

"Not much really," Rani shrugged, "My Dad's the principal though."

"What of this school? Your Dad's Mr Chandra?" I asked, laughing, "No way!"

"Yep," Rani sighed, "And Mum runs a florists 'Bloomin' Lovely' it's called- if you ever meet her she'll tell you all about it."

"I'll keep that in mind," I chuckled, "What about you, Luke?"

"I live with my Mum," he replied, "My Dad isn't in the picture though."

"Oh, sorry, about that," I apologised, softly, "That must suck."

"No, I never knew him," Luke explained.

"I know how you feel," I added.

Strangely, I was actually enjoying myself so far. It was the first 'normal' day I'd had since I'd joined UNIT. Also, I was actually speaking to people my own age and enjoying it. I'd never been social, well, not since I was bullied in Primary school and the start of Secondary anyway. I guess when Dad had told me that I would be going back to school, I'd expected things to be like how they had been when I used to go to school. But it looked like it would be the opposite. Maybe my socially awkward days were over? Or at least, I'd met some socially awkward people to hang around with; Rani couldn't have been that popular if her Dad was the principal and Luke looked pretty naïve, also.

Suddenly, a something fell into me, from behind. The impact came from out of nowhere and was so strong that I was knocked right off my feet and onto the floor. Another impact, only this one was rock hard, echoed throughout my body, before everything went blurry and I found myself drifting in and out of consciousness. The loud shouts of adolescents in the Diner, grew quieter and louder at the same time and seemed to run into each other, creating a rigid, painful shriek. Things stayed like that for a while, I couldn't tell how long; it could have been an hour, it could have been ten seconds, but eventually, my sight returned and I found Rani and Luke both bending down by me, along with a set of other students.

"Ha, she's well weak!" a boy who I didn't recognise to be in the same class as me, "Matt didn't even push into her that hard!"

"Oh, shut up, Jake!" Rani snapped, at the boy.

"All right, all of you, tep back and give her some air!" a teacher shouted, coming over to me and crouching down next to Rani and Luke. She looked about the same age as most of the other teachers, about thirty, with long brown hair and a fringe, "Are you alright, love?"

"Yeah," I mumbled, pulling myself up from the ground.

"Are you okay to walk?" she asked.

"Uh... I think so," I replied, hoarsely.

"Rani take her to the school nurse, please," the teacher told Rani.

"Sure," Rani replied, quickly, then turned back to me and helped me pull myself up, "Luke, I'll see you in maths."

"Okay," he muttered, as Rani dragged me across the lunch hall.

Things were still pretty fuzzy and blurry and there was a repetitive punch in my head, but it was nowhere near as painful as before. The sounds still blurred into each other, but I could make out what some people were saying. At least, I could make out what Rani was saying perfectly well.

"Are you okay?" Rani questioned, supporting me by the arm.

"Yeah," I replied, "What happened exactly?"

"A couple of boys were pushing each other around and fell into you. You rolled over a table, you know?" Rani explained, letting out a small giggle at the end. I would have laughed too, but my head hurt too much, for me to even breath properly.

I was lead into a small building at the side of the school, that was labelled _**The Wellbeing Suite** _and Rani pushed the door open and lead me through. She knocked on the first door of the too-clean corridor and a woman from inside gestured for us to come in. She looked about fifty or so, with short greyish, brown hair and wearing a blue nurse's uniform. The school nurse lead me out of the room, which was covered in posters advertising the results of smoking and not using protection and into a room that strongly represented an A&E ward.

She told me to sit on the bed, where she then examined me. After she checked my reflexes, checked my pulse (a dangerous thing for someone to do, yet she seemed to not even notice my rapid-but for me normal- heart rate) and shined a light in my eyes, she asked me if I was feeling sick, or dizzy. I told her I was fine- though I was still feeling a bit dizzy.

"What's your name again?" the nurse questioned.

"Star," I answered, "Star Song."

"Song?" she asked, "Hmmn. Just as I thought."

"What? What do you mean?" I asked, confused and curious.

"Daughter of River Song, am I correct?"

"Yes- did you see on my files?" I asked, remembering putting Mum's name on the sheets I had to fill in that morning. Though I had a feeling that the nurse's knowledge of my Mother wasn't from my files.

"Oh, no, dear," the nurse shook her head, "Oh, no. I've been looking for you, for a long, long time. The daughter of The Doctor and River Song. Hmmn, I'll let you know a secret, my dear," she leaned in closer, as I began to tremble with fear, "So many will be jealous to know that I'll be the one to capture you."

"Who the hell are you?!" I demanded, in a low hiss.

Chuckling softly, though somehow I could hear the danger within her laughter. She then, reached up and grabbed at the skin on her forehead and pulled it apart like a zip. I coiled back in disgust, as a bright, luminous green glowed out of its forehead. A cheeky, yet revolting grin spread across her face , before she peeled off the rest of the skin, before it landed on the floor.

I looked up into the bulging, big, black hole eyes, which were hidden very five seconds, by eyelids, that blinked vertically. The skin that surrounded it was a slimy, frog green, which was caked up by even more green sludge. Its figure was taller than the disguise that had once concealed it and a device strapped to its neck, like a collar. I squirmed, with as much shock as fear, as I stared up at the Slitheen.

"I, Star Song, am Vasillia Kanderram the Fourth," the Slitheen revealed, "And you, are my hunt!"

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Clyde's POV

"Do you know why you're here, Langer?" Miss Mulgrew asked, frowning, as she paced up and down the classroom, which adjoined onto the kitchen.

I smirked, though inside I was frowning. I didn't really get why the teachers referred to us by our last names, wasn't it a sign of respect? But they weren't showing us respect when telling us off, were they? Maybe it was to show_ disrespect_?

"Because you can't take a joke," I shrugged.

"No, you are here, because you are one of the most talented cooks in this class and could get an A star for your GCSEs. But right now, you're looking at a fail, if you don't get your act together," Miss Mulgrew replied.

I rolled my eyes, at the teachers' constant moaning about GCSEs. I'd chosen cooking because it was something I was good at, not because I needed it for my future. All I had to do was scrape a C at the least, so I could do art of graphics at university or a decent art college. And anyway, the teachers didn't even really care about what we got for our benefit. They just wanted us to get good results to make themselves look good.

"Look, Miss, it's a ten minute detention and it's now ten forty-five. Can't I go now?" I asked, sighing.

"Fine," Miss Mulgrew rolled her eyes, "Yes, you may go."

Quickly, I grabbed my school, sports bag and rushed to the door. Once I'd opened the door I was about to make my way out of the door, when Miss Mulgrew spoke up again.

"Mr Langer, just stop there, will you," she called.

Sighing, again, I turned back grudgingly, to face the teacher.

"Yes, Miss Mulgrew," I huffed.

"There's something, that I'd like to show you," she said.

She was facing the window, so I couldn't see her face, but I could see an iridescent, lime light reflecting off the window. I stared in horror, as I remembered what had happened when I'd seen this happen before.

Sure enough, my suspicions were right, when the flesh coloured skin tumbled to the floor in a heap (worse than any horror film) and Miss Mulgrew (or what had been disguised as her) turned around to face me. Then, I found myself face to face, with a Slitheen.

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**AN: Hope you all had a good Christmas! :D **

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**Anastasia xx**


	5. 4 The Girl Who Kills The One

**AN: Thanks for all the reviews guys! It means a lot to me that people are reading this! :D**

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Stargazing

Chapter 4, The Girl Who Kills The One

Star's POV

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I didn't hesitate. As soon as I saw the table of plasters and bandages next to the bed, I was still sitting on, I reached over and swung it towards the growling, green alien. The metal rung of the table hit the top of the Slitheen's leg before there was any other impact. It was clear to me that the table alone wouldn't be strong enough, as soon as it hit the beast. After all, nothing happened to the Slitheen; it wobbled a bit, but that was all.

However, after another quick glance around the room, there was nothing I could get to, that I wouldn't have to go through her first. I even considered running, but there was no way I could just run away without doing something to stop the Slitheen (even Dad didn't do that). Then not only would I be a lot more easier to capture, but a Slitheen would be on rampage throughout the whole school.

Realising I had no other option, I jumped down off the bed, and kicked the table, forcing another impact against the Slitheen. Though I'd never once taken a Biology lesson in my life, I knew perfectly well that everyone had more strength in their legs than their arms and as I kicked the table, that that hypothesis was correct. The table tumbled towards the Slitheen, before hitting her in her stomach. The force was clearly too strong and it knocked her backwards into the wall- a series of bandages sliding off the table and piling on top of her, as she lay on the floor helpless.

With a quick smile to myself, I ran out of the medical suite, desperately wishing I had some type of sonic pencil, or whatever, so I could lock the door and keep her inside. Knowing my time was limited, I didn't stop to think what other ways there were to lock it, I just ran. Though I had absolutely no idea where I was going to run to and what I was going to do.

"Hey, Star!" Rani called, as I bumped straight into her. She had clearly been waiting for me.

"What? Oh, Rani, hey," I replied, not quite sure what I was going to say. I obviously couldn't tell her what was really going on, could I?, "Look, umm..."

"Are you all right? You still look a bit pale," she remarked.

"Uhuh..." I muttered, not properly paying attention to what she was saying, "Oh, right, sorry. I feel fine, so..."

"So what did the Nurse say?" Rani questioned.

"Err... Not much really," I replied, deciding that if I couldn't get rid of her, I would just have to start walking, in hope that she would follow me.

Luckily, I was right; as soon as I started walking, she followed. It was just then, too, that I realised that Rani and me were the only ones in sight.

"Where is everyone else?" I questioned.

"Oh, it's lesson time now," Rani explained, "Mrs Salmano, the teacher who told you me to take you to the Nurse's office, is my teacher for the next two sessions, so she told me to wait for you and then take you back to Mrs Stockton."

"Oh," was all I managed to say in return, before I realised the opportunity that I was given to get rid of Rani, "Oh, no, you don't need to take me to Mrs Stockton; I can remember the way. You can go off to your next lesson."

"Nah, I'll walk you. Besides, I want to miss as much off my next lesson as possible, you won't believe how horrible Mrs Salmano can be!" Rani exclaimed- I was still only half listening, "Honestly, drama would be a fun lesson, if it weren't for her!"

Suddenly, I heard a door smash open from behind me and a shriek, so loud that it made your ears bleed, pierced the air. Immediately, I turned around to see what it was (though I technically already knew what it was) and Rani did the same. The door to the medical suite had been forced off the hinges and now lay on the ground with the edges, torn like tissue paper. In the doorway to the small building, was Vasillia Kanderram- or whatever her name was.

"Star Song!" she roared, "Get back here; you are my hunt!"

"What the hell!" Rani cried.

As soon as I realised that the Slitheen had gotten out of the medical suite (where I honestly had hoped it would stay for longer) I darted off (still having no idea where I was going). After all, there was no way I could stay and explain it all to Rani. And it wasn't like she wouldn't run away- I just had to hope she wouldn't follow me. Though that would be quite idiotic to do, since it was more than obvious the Slitheen wanted me.

I ram down to the edge off the school, where all I could see was an endless amount of trees and bushes, so it seemed like a relatively good place to hide. Though I could still here the Slitheen's cries, as I darted down to the greenery. I didn't stop to turn and see if she could see where I was going, however, meaning that there was a chance she knew where I was heading.

Fortunately, once I was blanketed in several layers of foliage, there was no sign of the Slitheen. I breathed a sign of relief, before looking around more to take in my surroundings.

I looked as if I was in a ditch or something. The ground was made up of a sloppy mud and moss grew on every tree. Beneath me, was a trickle of water running down like a river or a lake, which was covered by a stone bridge that lay a few feet away from me. The floor was covered in cigarette butts, giving the impression that this was where the 'misfits' would spend their free session and breaks. In fact, there was still the bitter, suffocating smell of cigarette smoke in the air, as well as bits of ash caking the ground like snow.

After I'd been there five minutes or so, it became clear that the Slitheen had lost all tracks of me and had gone to look somewhere else (if it had ever looked here, anyway). Taking it as a sign that I was safe for now, I let myself move and see if I could get a better glimpse of the school (which could then help me decide what I was going to do next). Of course, right now there was a Slitheen running loose around the school, something that I knew I couldn't deal with on my own. Especially since I'd never actually fought Slitheen before. Slitheen were perhaps the alien that bothered UNIT the least and I hadn't once ran into any on my travels with Dad.

And now, I had to deal with them on my own. Well, I didn't _have _to. If I could always contact Dad, though I wasn't quite sure how. I mean, he had a phone on the TARDIS, but I had no idea what the number was. Then I remembered, all those times Amy had called... She had the TARDIS' number.

I was just about to escape the clutches of the bushes, when I slipped on the gooey mud. I would've fallen onto the ground, if I hadn't caught myself on a tree, that stood next to me. I grabbed hold of one of the branches and kept a tight hold on it, until I'd steadied myself. Once I was up straight, I accidentally pulled hard on the branch and it fell off. After chucking the branch on the floor, I looked up to where I'd ripped the branch from and saw metallic wires sticking out. Curiously, I reached up and tore away the rest of the branch away. Funnily enough, more and more of the wires were revealed.

I went over to the tree that the branch belonged to, and pulled away lumps of the bark (making a few of my fingers bleed slightly) and found more metal. The whole tree was metal. Once a few parts of the bark had gone, it was easy to peel away the rest of it and once it was all gone, in front of me, was a door. A door hidden inside the tree.

Though I hadn't met with the Slitheen before, I still knew how they worked and what technology they used. The metal here was obviously Radugmalite and was a common, but strong metal often used on Raxacoricofallapatorius (and a couple of other planets). A bit like iron or steel for Earth. Radugmalite was often used for things like spaceships and teleportation devices, since it had a very high melting point and corrosion point and was never effected by the vortex or altitude levels. I think there was also something in it meaning that it was able to generate and conduct electricity. Or it could at least carry it and keep it safe.

After a few moments of examining it, I realised it was something that the Slitheens had brought here.

Quickly, and without checking to see if anyone or anything was there, I ran out of the bushes and sprinted off towards where I thought the reception was. Thankfully, it was just behind the closest building to me (that I think was a sports hall) and it wasn't long before I was inside.

The receptionist looked shocked to see me again, probably since it was lesson time, but I ignored it, as I quickly though up an excuse to use the phone.

"Oh, can I help you?" she asked.

"Umm... Yeah," I nodded, "I left my lunch at home and have no money to buy any from the school diner. Mrs Stockton told me to come down here and ask to use the phone, so is that okay?"

"Come on then," the receptionist sighed, as if students had been making their way in and out of the office all day to ask to use the phone. Then again, they probably had.

I made my way the door that lead to the office and walked in. The office was a small room, with one desk and a computer. A big shredder sat in the corner, as well as a photocopier and printer. The walls were covered in posters and leaflets about what classes had what lessons when and where and what teachers taught what, and such. There were two seats, that looked as if they were for visitors or maybe students waiting to go home early, if they were ill, with a water dispenser next to it.

The receptionist gestured towards the phone, which sat on the counter behind her (obviously there for other purposes than hers), as she sat down. I was about to dial the number, when I noticed a calendar on the receptionist's desk. It was still 2009. The Amy and Rory in this time had no idea who I even who I was, let alone that they had a granddaughter. Or possibly a daughter. Amy knew who the Doctor was, but she still hadn't seen him since she was seven, so how could I phone up and get her to phone Dad for me. Besides, she wouldn't even be using the phone number that I had for her.

I frowned and put the phone down, perhaps a bit too violently. The receptionist jumped and turned around, sharply.

"Is there a problem?" she asked.

"No," I shook my head, quickly, "I just remembered, I think I have a fiver in my bag. Thanks, anyway."

I began to walk out of the office, still with no idea where I'd go next, when I felt a tap behind me. I turned around, expecting to see the receptionist and technically, I did see the receptionist. Or what had been disguised as the receptionist.

In front of me, was another Slitheen, who was standing next to a pile of sticky flesh (she'd obviously removed her disguise before . I grimaced at the veins that I could see in the body and looked back at the Slitheen- though I didn't particularly want to look at _that _either. I swore under my breath, as I looked around the office, looking for something I could throw or kick towards the alien, like I'd done with the last one.

Before I could do anything, however, something grabbed me from behind. Looking down, I saw that two big hands, with claws for fingers holding me tight. Swearing again, I tried to kick and shake the Slitheen off, but their grip was too strong.

"Oh, there's no use trying to escape us, Miss Song," the Slitheen that had been the receptionist snarled, "We have you now."

"What the hell do you want?!" I demanded.

"It's quite simple really," the Slitheen that had hold of me replied, in a ghastly chuckle, "Your dear Mother was a bit of misfit wasn't she?"

"I have no idea, I've met her once," I answered, whilst still trying to fight it off with my foot.

"At first, we decided to get to someone she cared about for revenge, but then we found out about you," the other Slitheen carried on, both ignoring what I'd just said, "River Song's and the Doctor's daughter. A girl with another life."

"What do you mean 'another life'?" I asked, completely confused.

"The girl who kills the one," the Slitheen mused.

"What are you talking about?" I cried, "Whatever you've heard about me, that isn't true! I have no idea what you mean by all this; I've never killed anyone before and I don't plan on killing anyone. Now what the bloody hell are you going to do with me- and it better be let go!"

"Oh, you really think we'd let you out of our clutches?" the Slitheen chuckled, "You honestly have no idea what the prize is for your death."

"Nope and I don't really want to find out either," I muttered, "And I am not kidding, if you don't let go..."

I was cut off by a sharp stab at the back of my neck. I could feel the cold metal penetrate my skin, and possibly a bit of my bone. I nearly screamed, but the lack of energy stopped me. The world seemed to slant, slide and spin, before it came to a complete stop. And as I slipped away into an unknown darkness, the last thing I heard was the triumphant laughter of the Slitheen.

* * *

**AN: Okay, if you're confused I don't blame you, because I don't even know what I'm writing, because timey-wimey stuff confuses me. I knew what it means, but I don't think I worded some things properly, so if you are confused, just ask and I'll explain. :D**

**There were quite a few things that give massive hints to future stories! Story six to be precise! :D**

**Please, make me happy and review!**

**Anastasia xx**


	6. 5 Don't Forget The Vinegar

**AN: Thanks to everyone who's reviewing! Especially **_ClydeandRani4ever, KBerry, Amy Angel Allen _and_ xQueen of the shadow geeksx._

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Stargazing

Chapter 5, Don't Forget The Vinegar

Clyde's POV

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I swore under my breath- though I wasn't sure why I didn't swear out loud- as the gory, green beast, reached out for me with its dragon like claws, with the abnormally long (even for aliens) fingers. Reacting fast, I ducked, causing the Slitheen to miss and hit the air. After ducking, I found myself on the floor, without the steadiness that I needed to get up and still be aware of the Slitheen's attack, so I allowed myself to collapse onto the ground. Quickly, I crawled under the Slitheen's legs (I don't recommend it) before jumping up behind it. Once it had turned around, the Slitheen took another angry swipe aimed at me, but missed as I jumped to the side. Realising this would be perhaps the only chance I'd get, I turned and ran.

Even once I was out of the corridor, I didn't stop. The Slitheens couldn't exactly run that fast, but they could and did give chase when they had to. Even though I could outrun them any day, I knew I had to just keep running and get as far away as possible. But once I'd made my way out of sight, I wasn't exactly sure what I could do other than call Sarah Jane. Session three would start soon- about 3 minutes maybe- and then I'd have to be up in the Eastern block for Art. But how could I stay stuck in an Art lesson whilst aliens invaded the school?

I ran down to the boys toilets, before realising that if I went in there and the Slitheen found me, there would be no way out, so I carried on running. There was no way I could go outside, since everyone was still on break. However, break was nearly over. The only thing I could do to get rid of the Slitheen properly was to explode them with vinegar. Being in the Activities block and a cooking classroom when the Slitheen had first revealed itself to me, made me feel pretty stupid for not thinking about it earlier. All I had to do, was get back to the kitchen and get some vinegar from there; it was a common kitchen ingredient and the school had its own supply of toppings and herbs.

Luckily for me, there were two way up to the kitchen. The first, the way I'd just came, and the second, the long way; down the stairs and through to the other side of the Activities block, up another staircase and then through a classroom that was adjoined to the kitchen and the other classroom, that had belonged to Miss Mulgrew. But even then I would have to find the Slitheen and break was practically thirty seconds away from finishing. Soon, the corridors would be full of students making their way to their next lesson- and if they saw a Slitheen... Then there would be trouble. Especially for me, I'd never hear the end of it from Sarah Jane.

I sprinted through the corridors, and up the stairs. The shrieks from the Slitheen echoed down the corridor, by the sounds of it, they were only a few metres behind me, but I didn't stop to turn around and check. Instead, I carried on and dashed up the stairs and into the kitchen. Other than the two classrooms, there was a small staffroom adjoined to the kitchen, where the cooking teachers would go during break and lunch, but seeing as it was pretty much now lesson time, no one was there.

After being sent in there to collect small ingredients and toppings, I knew perfectly well where everything was in there and it took me seconds to find the bottle of vinegar, in a drawer full of other sauces.

Once I had it, I ran back down the stairs to where I assumed the Slitheen was.

Still, the corridors were completely empty. I frowned; surely the teachers should've let the students in by now? It had to be lesson time. Unless... No, there was more than sixty teachers in the school. Not all of them could've been killed and used as disguises for the Slitheen.

I took my phone out of my pocket and looked at the time.

_10:54am_

Break had finished four minutes ago, yet no one was in the Activities block. They couldn't have come in; I would've seen, and they would've seen me. Glancing out of the large window, I saw that no one was outside either. Not one person was outside. What was going on? Where had everyone got to? This school had eight hundred pupils and none of them were outside or in any classrooms.

"Oi! Slitheen!" I yelled, as I began running off down the corridor again, "Where are you? Show yourself!"

But no one, or anything else, appeared. Running down the corridors, I was proved right; no one at all was there. All the classrooms were empty. There wasn't one student or one teacher.

Again, I reached in my pocket for my phone and scrolled down the contact list, before coming to Sarah Jane. After pressing the call button, I held the phone to my ear and waited for her to answer. The beeping as the phone rang seemed to go on forever, but it didn't last for more than three or four rings, before Sarah Jane answered.

"Clyde? What are you doing? Shouldn't you be in class?" Sarah Jane questioned.

"Oh, nice to speak to you, too," I replied, sarcastically.

"What's wrong?" she asked, ignoring my comment.

"Slitheens. They're here; at Parkvale," I explained, "Or at least they were."

"What do you mean?" Sarah Jane queried.

"My culinary science teacher held me back for a detention, then turned into a Slitheen," I told her, in a casual, ironic tone, "Now everybody's disappeared."

"Everybody?" Sarah Jane asked, sounding worried, "What about Luke or Rani?"

"I don't know," I replied, honestly, "I was going to call them after you."

"Well, weren't you with them at break?"

"No, I just told you, I was at a detention."

"Okay, I'm on my way," Sarah Jane told me, "See if you can find Luke and Rani, then meet me at the car park. I shouldn't be long, I'm just going to set Mr Smith up and get him to scan the school for alien activity."

"Okay," I replied, "See you there; be quick."

"I will," Sarah Jane promised.

"Oh, and Sarah Jane," I began, "Don't forget the vingar."

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**AN: I know it isn't the longest chapter, but I hope you still enjoyed it.**

**Happy New Year! **

**Oh, and I've written a Doctor Who poem, which I'd be grateful if you all checked out! :D**

**Anastasia xx**


	7. 6 Just What Is Going On?

Stargazing 

Chapter 6, Just What Is Going On?

Rani's POV

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"What the hell!" I cried, as the alien leapt out of the wellbeing suite.

Immediately, Star sprinted off towards the edge of the school where the ditches were, before I had the time to see or do anything else. I supposed it was kind of reasonable for her to act this way, after all, she had worked with the military, but she'd never seen anything alien. When I'd been first introduced to aliens, I hadn't exactly seen aliens; I'd seen a clown and then Sarah Jane had explained (reluctantly) that it was an alien.

"Star!" I shouted after her, as the Slitheen ran after her.

Glad it hadn't noticed me, or at least wasn't coming after me, I ran after both of them. Neither seemed to notice that I was following, since neither looked back. Probably because both wanted to keep running. Star would obviously want to get away from the Slitheen, especially since she would have no idea what it was. Then again, even if she did know what it was, she would still be running.

Star was running towards the ditches and the Slitheen was still chasing after her, shouting her name.

It was then, that I began to think. The Slitheen was chasing Star... Why? Why did the Slitheen want Star? Wouldn't going after Luke, Clyde or me make more sense, since we'd dealt with the Slitheen before. What did Star have to do with it? Could she know about aliens? What, no, that was a ridiculous theory. How could she know about aliens, anyway?  
I was cut away abruptly from my thoughts, as I noticed Star scramble into the bushes and disappear into the greenery. I sped up then, knowing that the Slitheen would follow her in, but, strangely, it didn't. Instead, it stopped and ran off to the left.

Stopping also, I frowned and wondered what to do. Did I follow Star and explain what I could? Maybe I'd have to pretend that I was completely clueless too? Then again, maybe that wouldn't make sense. If I wasn't aware that aliens existed and they were going after Star, I wouldn't follow would I? Wouldn't I run off in the opposite direction and call the police, or something?

I then considered going after the Slitheen. It hadn't been after me before, but if I went after it, then it would definitely do something to try and kill me- or harm me to get me out of the way, at the least. But maybe I would find out _why_ it wanted Star, if I went after her.

But then I remembered Sarah Jane and what she would say about going off on my own, to sort out aliens. She wouldn't be happy. Of course, she wouldn't be happy about Star now knowing about aliens too, but that wasn't my fault. It looked like the Slitheen was after her for some reason. And I desperately wanted to know why.

Just then, I felt my phone vibrate in my bag. I dug it out and checked the caller ID. Clyde.

"Clyde?" I said into the phone, once I'd answered the call, "Clyde, there are Slitheen."

"Yeah, I know," he replied, "Everyone's disappeared."

"What?" I exclaimed, confused, "What do you mean?"

"There are no people. Nowhere."

"I'll ring Sarah Jane..."

"No, I've already done that. Is Luke with you?"

"No, he went to class."

"Oh, great, he's probably been taken too, then."

"Look, Rani, meet me at the car park- Sarah Jane's on her way there now."

"Right. See you in a minute then."

"Yep."

_Click._ The line went dead.

* * *

Luke's POV

There was a sound like an angry buzz from a fly, swimming around my head. I tried to ignore it, since it was beginning to grow irritating. Like something scraping against a blackboard. Grumbling, I tried to concentrate on other things, to get away from the uncomfortable sounds.

Only then, I remembered what had happened. I'd just left Rani in the school Diner and she went to wait for Star, who'd been sent to the school nurse. It was nearly time for class, so I'd made my way down to the activities block for Science. Once class started, the teacher began to explain all the differences between the animal and plant cells- that had to be primary school stuff- when there had been a bright, blinding light.

That was all I could remember.

My eyes flickered open. I noticed a slight drain in energy, like after not consuming anything for a short while, but other than that, I felt fine. There was no acceleration in heart rate, dizziness or nausea. It was exactly like waking up in the morning. For a split second, I assumed that it was the morning and I'd dreamt all of this. Only, I couldn't dream. And I'd already woken up this morning.

My theory was also improved incorrect when I noticed where I was. I was lying on a metal bed, with no mattress of bedding and above me was a metal ceiling. Pushing myself up, I saw a vary in different types of alien equipment. It didn't take me long to realise I was on a spaceship. Standing up, I walked over to the walls of the ship and studied them closely. It was Radugmalite; a metal found on Raxacoricofallapatorius- Mr Smith had told me about it. Apparently, it was one of the most used metals on Raxacoricofallapatorius and was also one of the only metals in the universe that could penetrate through vortexes unharmed. Of course, its high corrosion point and time energy consummation helped that.

Looking around more, I saw another bed like the one I'd been one. Only the person lying across it had lots of different wires going into them. Walking over, I recognised the person lying across the metal panel, to be Star. There was a long purple stripe growing down the side of her neck and her eyes were closed, but it was definitely her.

"Star?" I said, shaking her by the shoulder, "Star! Can you hear me?"

She didn't react at all. She didn't even stir. She just stayed motionless, lifeless and unconscious. She was alive; her breaths were rigid and rapid, but there. But it didn't look like she would be able to wake up anytime soon. And by the look of her face, which was quickly using its colour and the stone coldness of her skin, suggested that she wouldn't wake up at all.

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**AN: So sorry I have been a rubbish updater! I don't update for ages and then it's a tiny update! Sorry!**

**Please review! Even if it's to complain!**

**Anastasia xx**


	8. 7 An Old Tale

**AN: ARGH! I am so sorry about my updates! But I had an operation and I'm now not able to walk until Tuesday and am sat here eating a tub of 2L tub of ice cream!**

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Stargazing

Chapter 7, An Old Tale

Rani's POV

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"Rani!" Clyde shouted from across the road, from where I stood. I'd followed his instructions; to meet him at the car park, where Sarah Jane would be in a minute, and had arrived just minutes ago. Possibly even less. Clyde stood just where the borderline for the school and the car park was. At a slightly slowed down pace than normal (probably because he'd just been running a lot faster) he came over, "Rani..." he murmured, sounding out of breath.

"What's going on? Where did you see the Slitheen?" I questioned, hastily.

"Well, my cooking teacher was one," Clyde answered, bending over in an attempt to get rid of a stitch.

"The school nurse was on as well," I explained, "She went after Star and she took off."

"What, when?" Clyde asked, in a deep breath- I was finding it hard not to laugh at him, as he struggled breathlessly.

"Some kids were messing about and pushed her over and she went sort of half-conscious, so Mrs Salmano told me to take her to the nurse and wait for her. I did just that, and then she came out of the nurse's office with a Slitheen chasing after her," I told him, "Then she legged it and the Slitheen went after her."

"What? And it ignored you?"

"Yeah," I nodded, "Weird, huh?"

"I knew it!" Clyde exclaimed.

"What?"

"Star. I knew there was somehting weird about her."

"What do you mean? How?..."

Clyde didn't get a chance to reply, because just then Sarah Jane's blue mini came speeding down the car park, before coming to a sharp stop in front of us. The wheel skidded on the road, nearly colliding with the ledge that separated the pavement and the road. As quick as she could, Sarah Jane stepped out of the car (not even having the seatbelt on) and slammed the door behind her.

"Sarah Jane," I greeted.

"Where's Luke?" she demanded.

"We're not sure," Clyde shook his head, apologetically, "The entire school has disappeared, apart from us. And also there's this..."

"Of course, Spacial Telepathic Radars," Sarah Jane muttered, cutting Clyde off, "I had Mr Smith do a scan of the school before I came. The Slitheen must have used it to get rid of everyone, but why? What do they want?"

"The new girl," Clyde answered, immediately.

"What?" Sarah Jane asked.

"Oh, for godsake Clyde, Star is not wanted by aliens!" I cried, "She was completely freaked out at seeing Slitheen!"

"Maybe she was just shocked that they'd found her!" Clyde protested, "Think about it. She come out of nowhere, in the middle of term, and has been travelling around the world and helped out with the military."

"Wait a minute!" Sarah Jane interrupted, "Who is this new girl?"

"Star Song," Clyde replied, "She's really strange and a Slitheen went after her when Rani was standing _right _next to her."

"What and she worked for the military?" Sarah Jane asked, eyebrows raised.

"Yeah," Clyde nodded.

"How old is she?" Sarah Jane queried.

"Fifteen- she's our age," Clyde answered, "But on the form she had to fill in she wrote she was born in nineteen ninety eight, making her eleven. She crossed it out, but how could someone forget the year they were born?"

"You may have a point, Clyde," Sarah Jane nodded, "And a girl that young, working for the military? Even UNIT wouldn't do something like that and they're desperate for recruits sometimes."

"I can not believe this!" I cried, "Star has nothing to do with aliens. She acts like any other human girl. And how does working for the military make her alien, or know about aliens?"

"It could be all a lie," Sarah Jane shrugged, "We'll have to find out. Once we've sorted this out, I'll get Mr Smith to search her."

I rolled my eyes again. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. How could Star have anything to do with aliens? It didn't make sense and she acted far too freaked out when the Slitheen went running after her. Even though Sarah Jane had taught us to be suspicious, she hadn't taught us to go around accusing everyone of having something to do with aliens. Maybe she had a strange back ground, but no... She had to be human. And she had to be oblivious to aliens.

"So what do we do now?" Clyde questioned.

"Well, you say the Slitheen went after Star?" Sarah Jane checked.

"Yeah," I nodded, crossing my arms angrily.

"Where did it chase her?" Sarah Jane asked.

"Well, Star ran off down to the ditches, but then the Slitheen ran off towards reception," I answered, grudgingly.

"Okay, we'll go there then," Sarah Jane directed, "Show me the way."

"What if Star's there? What do we say to her? Because, I swear, she knows nothing about aliens," I said, as Clyde began to lead the way to the ditches, behind the wellbeing suite.

"She has to know something," Clyde shouted from in front.

"She doesn't," I whispered, to Sarah Jane, as I began to get annoyed that no one was believing me.

"Maybe not," Sarah Jane agreed, "But even if she didn't before, she does now."

"I guess," I muttered.

"And then we'll have to wipe her memory," Sarah Jane said slowly.

"What? No... No, Sarah Jane, that's unfair," I protested.

"I can't have someone else's life in my hands," Sarah Jane pointed out.

"Well, what if already knew about aliens?"

"Then it depends on the situation."

I didn't reply after that; I was too angry too. Instead, I began to wonder why I was so defensive about Star and her not knowing about aliens. I mean, Star was a great. And I didn't have any female friends my own age. Maybe I'd wanted someone _normal_ to hang out with. Who I could speak to about _normal_ things that were on my mind; shopping; boys; gossip; films. That sort of thing.

But I also didn;t want Star to have her memory wiped of aliens. Maybe it wasn't just about having a normal friend. Maybe it was about having a friend, who was my own age and a girl to spend time with. I mean, Clyde and Luke were great, but I couldn't speak to them about crushes or have sleepovers or anything. And Sarah Jane, was, well, a lot older than me. More sensible and mature. Though I liked to think if myself as sensible and mature, I knew I still needed to let go and enjoy being a teenager, I just had no one to do it with. I'd just been hoping that I could befriend Star, so I wouldn't be without female friends.

Once we arrived at the ditches, I showed them whereabouts Star had gone into the bushes. As we pushed the thick branches and leaves out of our way, we found ourselves stuck inside a swarm of foliage and the suffocating smoke of cigarettes. It didn't take any of us long to notice the alien equipment. A tree. Made of metal.

"What is that?" I asked, going towards it,

"A tree, made of metal? Now, that's cool," Clyde responded, with his signature line.

"Radugmalite," Sarah Jane explained, "A type of metal, found on Raxacoricofallapatorius. It's used for space ships and such."

"So, this tree, is a spaceship?" Clyde guessed.

"No," Sarah Jane shook her head, taking out her sonic lipstick, "It's most likely a door to a spacecraft. Stand back."

Clyde and me did as she said, and took three steps back, away from the tree (or door). Aiming at the centre of the metal tree, the end of the device lit up a bright red and the sharp, screeching siren, pierced the air. The metal door let off a few sparks, before clicking and flinging open. Putting the sonic lipstick back in her pocket, Sarah Jane then walked forward down to open, metal door and peered down.

"What's down there?" Clyde asked.

"Well, I can't see; it's too dark," Sarah Jane replied, "But we're about to find out. There's a ladder, we're going down."

"We are?" Clyde asked, worriedly. I giggled slightly. I loved it how Clyde would get scared every now and then.

"Yes," Sarah Jane answered, as she turned around to climb down, "Come on."

Clyde turned around to face me.

"Ladies first," Clyde said, gesturing for me to go down first.

"Men just before," I smirked, though I was already getting into position to climb down.

We all clambered down the hole, our hands tightly gripping the rails, which were made of a rigid, bumpy, rusty metal, that you could almost taste. The tunnel was dark and damp, like a sewer and felt as if it should be silent, but the echoes of whatever was underneath made it vibrate with a stomp. It was a lot longer than I'd originally thought and it took about ten minutes to climb down, but eventually, we reached the bottom.

We all jumped onto the silver, metallic floor and Sarah Jane reached into her brown shoulder bag and revealed three vinegar filled squeezies and handed one to each of us. Then, we all looked around and found ourselves in a spaceship.

Everything was the same; metallic and futuristic. We looked as if we were in a control room. There was a large screen at the end of the wall, which was above a whole selection of levers, buttons and smaller screens. There was still the same metallic taste, like blood, that there had been in the tunnel, but otherwise, I wasn't reminded of the tunnel at all; it was too bright here.

"This way," Sarah Jane directed, gesturing towards a door that was made of a darker metal, but otherwise camouflaged in perfectly with the rest of the room.

We all ran towards it and Sarah Jane opened it with her lipstick. The door shot open and inside, sitting on top of a metal panel, was Luke.

"Luke!" Sarah Jane called, as she saw her son, before sprinting forward to him and hugging him.

Clyde and me ran after her too, and found ourselves in a smaller room than the last, but still with everything that had been in the last, and more. In the middle, was another metal plank, with someone else on top. It was Star. Both Clyde and me, ran over to her and immediately noticed a deep purple mark, too vivid to be a bruise, making its way up her neck, just where a tube like an IV drip was going into her.

"Are you all right?" I heard Sarah Jane ask Luke.

"Yeah, fine," he answered, before both came over and joined us.

"Is this Star?" Sarah Jane asked.

"Yeah, this is her," I nodded.

"Well, the Slitheen obviously did want her then," Sarah Jane thought aloud, "They wouldn't have done this to her and not Luke, otherwise."

"What exactly have they done to her, though?" I demanded.

"Yeah and what's this purple thing on her neck?" Luke asked.

"I'm not sure," Sarah Jane replied, studying her closely and looking at the tube of liquid that was making its way down her neck, "Some type of poison. Or whatever they're doing to keep her asleep. Maybe both," Sarah Jane guessed, before hastily pulling the tube out of her neck, "But whatever it is, shouldn't be bothering her anymore."

There was no response from Star, though she was definitely still alive. However, as soon as the tube was pulled out, the purple markings on her neck began to fade. Not completely, but slightly; they grew smaller and paler.

"So, what's going on?" Luke asked.

"Slitheen have got into the school- again- and everyone has disappeared, apart from us," Clyde explained, quickly, before a look of confusion crossed his face, "Why not us?"

Sarah Jane was about to answer, when a voice from behind us beat her to it.

"Do you not have any idea how much your life's are worth?" it said. The voice was high-pitched and snarling. It had a small ring to it that made it sound like a triumphant chuckle.

We all turned around and saw two Slitheen standing in the doorway, where we'd just come from. It was impossible to read a Slitheen's mood from its facial expression, since it never really changed, but their voices said it all. Defeat.

"What are you doing here?" Sarah Jane demanded, holding out the vinegar bottle, "And I'd stay back if I were you."

"What do you think we're doing? Some of the most valuable earth forms in one place? How could we resist?" the other Slitheen replied, ignoring Sarah Jane's threats as it stepped forward.

"What do you mean?" Clyde asked, holding out his bottle of vinegar.

"Sarah Jane Smith and her gang of teenagers. All of our kind would be glad to see you dead, and Star Song, the girl almost every race wants dead," the first Slitheen explained, as it blinked vertically.

"I told you she knew about aliens," Clyde muttered.

"Shut up, Clyde, it's not the time!" I snapped.

"Why? Why does every race want Star dead?" Sarah Jane questioned.

"Surely you've heard the tale, Miss Smith?" the Slitheen said, "The tale of the girl who kills the one? It's written on the Walls of Kalesroity, everyone knows it."

"Of course," Sarah Jane muttered, "As the life's of each side perish, in the rebirth of the song."

"What's that?" Clyde asked, "And don't say a poem."

"An old tale, rarely spoken about," Sarah Jane explained, "But barely anyone believes it. All it is, is a tale."

"It's not a tale, Miss Smith," the Slitheen told her, "It's a warning."

"A warning for what?" Sarah Jane asked, "And I am warning you, one step closer and you'll be blasted into slime."

"And we'll get soaked," Clyde added, silently.

"Do you really think, that we'll..." the second Slitheen began, but before it could continue, Sarah Jane pulled back the lever on the squeazy and a shot of vinegar burst out like a bullet. After several more squirts from Sarah Jane, Clyde and me, they're bodies began to shake, before exploding into small, gunky slime balls and landing all over us.

* * *

**AN: Hopefully it's better than the last updates. I'll try and update soon! :)**

**Anastasia x**


	9. 8 Let's Go

Stargazing 

Chapter 8, Let's Go

Star's POV

* * *

My heavy eyes tried to flicker open, but it proved impossible. Like they were glued together. I carried on trying to force them apart, but I barely got a glimpse of my surroundings before they were forced shut.

Voices seemed to be attacking me from every angle, only I couldn't figure out what they were saying. I could barely pick out any words and the ones that I could, didn't give me any suggestions as to what was going on. I could only pick out basic words like 'the' and 'it' and 'if', words like that, which were used in pretty much every sentence. I didn't recognise any of the voices either, which made it more irritating. Well, I possibly could put a face to the voice, but with a strong pounding in my head and sharp, pulsing, piercing feeling in my neck, reaching up to where it joined the headache- possibly adding to it.

Again, I tried forcing my eyes open, to find it slightly more possible. Even clearer. They flickered open and I found things perfectly able to see. In front of me, was Rani, Clyde and Luke and a woman, one who I didn't recognise. She looked as if she were in her fifties, with brown hair. She wore a pair of jeans and a black shirt, with a greyish jacket. One strange thing though, was that she- and the three teenagers- were covered in splodges of green slime.

"She's coming round," Rani said, "Star? Star, are you all right?"

"Yeah," I answered, hoarsely, pulling myself up, "Yeah, I'm fine."

"What happened?" Luke asked me, taking my arm to help me sit up.

"I... erm..." I was about to tell them about being taken by the Slitheen, before I realised that they wouldn't know about the Slitheen. I mean Rani had seen them, but I could come up with an explanation for what was going on. Or I could get Dad to wipe her memory or something. But now, what was I going to say?

"Star," the woman, said gently, "My name is Sarah Jane Smith. Did you know about the Slitheen before?"

"Sarah... Sarah Jane... Smith," I murmured, dizzily. Where did I know that name from? I definitely recognised it from somewhere.

"Yes, that's me," Sarah Jane nodded, "Star?"

"Yes? So... Sorry," I slurred, probably sounding like I was drunk, "The Slitheen? Yeah. Yeah, I knew about them. Why? Y... You do?"

It was more than obvious that she knew about Slitheen and some of the other extra-terrestrial life forms out there. But I felt as if I had no control whatsoever over my speech- at all. Like I was being choked and force-fed words.

"Yes, I do," she nodded.

I had just opened my mouth to ask how, but then I remembered where I knew her name from. Sarah Jane Smith... My Dad had spoken about her. Saying how she'd travelled with him in his fourth regeneration. But he'd had to leave her and she'd thought he'd died. There was something about a metal dog, too, from the fiftieth century. He'd left her one as an apology? And a talking computer that she kept in her attack. She defended Earth from aliens in her attack.

Was this Sarah Jane her? It had to be. How else would she know about aliens?

"You're Sarah Jane?" I repeated, "You... You know Dad."

I tried to stand up, pushing myself off the metal bed that I'd been lying on. Taking a glimpse of my surroundings, my mind was bombarded with a series of questions, none that I could answer. Well, I could just about guess some. It was clear I was in a ship, and after being knocked out by the Slitheen they'd obviously taken me there. I just didn't know why. Other than it was something to do with Mum.

"Who is your Dad?" Clyde asked, as Luke, Sarah Jane and Rani stood close to me acting as if I was a very fragile piece of china.

"The... The Doctor," I answered, stuttering, trying to maintain my balance.

"Who?" Sarah Jane rasped, "Woo did you say your Father was?"

"You... You know him," I replied, still struggling to string a few words together, "Of... of course you do... You... you travelled with him."

None of them replied after that, but I was sure they all exchanged several confused glances, that seemed to circulate around the four people. A weak tremble supressed through my legs, nearly causing me to collapse in the ground. Just before I collided with the metal floor, someone grabbed my arm and pulled me back up right. I looked up to see who it was; Luke.

To be honest, I'd expected Rani. Though I wasn't exactly sure why. Probably because boys had a thing about physical contact with girls- unless it was sexual.

However, Luke gave me a small smile and I gave him one back.

"Are you okay?" he checked.

"Fine," I smiled, gratefully, as the dizziness began to fade. Regaining a strong position and finding my point of balance and I gave myself the smallest of shakes, before looking back at Sarah Jane, "It really is you, isn't it? Oh, my god."

"Who are you?" Sarah Jane asked, she asked it calmly, but her shaking figure said otherwise.

"Star Song," I replied, "The Doctor's daughter."

"No... No, you can't be," Sarah Jane shook her head, "Him and... Kids? That doesn't seem like him at all."

"That's what my grandparents thought," I told her, realising that my ecstatic, positive side- that I'd inherited from Dad- was coming through, "Though they're twenty-three, so I think they were just looking for a reason to not think that I was their granddaughter."

"But, on that form, you wrote your Father as John Song?" Clyde pointed out, folding his arms, "I don't believe you."

"Yeah, well, he goes as John Smith sometimes," I shrugged, "I thought I'd put my Mother's last name, since they are married."

"The Doctor's married?!" Sarah Jane exclaimed, "Who to? Who's your Mother?"

"River Song," I told her, "Or Melody Pond. She has several names."

"But you said that your Mum was in jail," Rani pointed out.

"Yeah, she is," I nodded, "In Stormcage, the Galaxy's most protected prison. The year five thousand and... something."

"Sarah Jane we shouldn't trust her," Clyde said, "I mean, we've been tricked like this before. She could be anyone!"

"Oh, thanks," I muttered.

"Are you really his daughter?" Sarah Jane asked.

"Yep," I grinned, "He speaks about you a lot, you know. Is it true you have a talking, robot dog and a Xylok in your attack?"

Sarah Jane let out a laugh, before answering. "Does he really speak about me? What else has he said about me?"

"You save the world from your attack, with a group of teenagers," I replied, smiling.

"Sarah Jane it's a trap," Clyde said again.

I frowned at him. Honestly, I didn't expect him to act differently. In fact, I would of thought all of them to be against me. I wouldn't believe me, if I were them.

"Look, well, once we've sorted out everything, I'll get Mr Smith to check her," Sarah Jane told him.

"Mr Smith?" I asked, eyebrows raised.

"The Xylok," Luke answered.

"Oh," I said, "And sort out what?"

"Everyone's disappeared," Sarah Jane explained, "Spacial Telepathic Radars, I think."

"Probably," I agreed, "We should be able to turn it off somewhere in the ship. We are in the Slitheen's ship, right?"

"We are," Sarah Jane confirmed, "There's a control room just through there." She gestured towards a door, at the right.

"That'll be where we can turn it off. Do you know how to turn it off?" I questioned.

"No, do you?" Sarah Jane replied.

"Not... really. No," I admitted, "I know how they work, but one mistake and it could explode and destroy this part of London."

"Is the voltage that high?" Luke asked.

"We're talking about a million and a half watts, if we're speaking about STRs," I answered.

"Can't we over ride it somehow?" Luke asked.

"And here comes the geek talk," Clyde muttered.

"Oi, you!" I cried, pointing to Clyde, "You just listen and pray you'll one day understand how a binary switch works." I turned back to Luke, before carrying on, "No, not with all those people trapped on the other side."

"The other side of what?" Rani asked.

"Anywhere," I shrugged, "They could be anywhere in the Universe right now. We can only get them back by reversing the STR. Unless..." I drifted off, as I realised a solution. Luke gasped, as he realised what I was thinking.

"Unless we do over ride it," Luke thought aloud, "This entire ship is made of Raduglamite, one of the strongest materials in the Universe."

"Exactly, if we over ride the STR and get out in time..." I began

"The Radar will be destroyed, letting all the people out, and the ship will explode..." Sarah Jane carried on.

"But the strength of the metal will keep the explosion inside," Luke finished.

"Yeah," I nodded, grinning, "It'll work perfectly. We just have to over ride it."

"Simple," Sarah Jane winked, taking out a silver stick witha red end from her pocket.

"Sonic lipstick?!" I exclaimed, "I asked for that for my birthday, but I was taken to see MacBeth being performed for the first time ever instead. Which wasn't that good actually."

"Oh, tell me about it. MacBeth's boring!" Rani laughed, "We just did an essay on it in English and it was like, the guy has issues- we get it!"

"I know right," I agreed.

"Okay, gossiping later," Clyde interrupted, "Right now let's save the school."

"Bet you never thought you'd say that," Rani teased.

"Nope," Clyde shook his head.

"Right, so... Control room. You over ride it. We run," I checked.

"We run very fast; it won't take long for all the power to generate," Sarah Jane said, seriously.

"Okay," I nodded, "Let's go."

* * *

**AN: I know, a really bad update. I started to lose my inspiration for this fic, so... Yeah. Sorry. :/**

**Review?  
**

**Nx**


	10. 9, I'll Explain Later

Stargazing

Chapter 9, I'll Explain Later

Star's POV

* * *

Recently, the adventures I'd been having with Dad had died down a bit. Over the past few months, he'd purposefully taken me to see things that _wouldn't _end up with guns pointing at our heads. Of course, he couldn't always vouch for the overall certainty of our safety, but there were some obvious places that spelled danger. Also, there was always the chance that the TARDIS would take us somewhere where we needed to go (easily translated to 'where _she wanted_ to go'.) where we'd be thrown into adrenaline knee-deep.

Normally, however, he managed to keep me distracted from things such as guns and revenge hungry Aliens, by showing me things. Okay, even I had to admit, some of the things he'd shown me were extraordinary. Unfortunately for him, not even 'The Hidden Sun of Sarcvania' (which he still had yet to take me to) or 'The Forest of Capillington Bay' didn't distract me from the feeling of adventures.

When I'd spoken to Amy about it, she'd said that it could be because I'd pretty much grown up fighting Aliens. Rory agreed with her, but said it could also be something to do with Mum's craving for adventure that'd been passed down to me genetically. Then they'd started going on about how Dad was probably trying not to take me to dangerous places because he didn't want me to turn out as a psychopath, like Mum... Maybe that was why they'd ended up sending me to school.

However, now, as we were running through the spaceship, I could remember exactly how much I loved adventures. The feeling of running, with time against you. It made me feel unstoppable; invincible. And as I ran through through the spaceship with one of Dad's previous companions and three teenagers, I realised how much I missed adventures.

Bursting into another room of the ship, our eyes fell upon a screen, that at first glance looked turned off. However, if you took a few steps closer, you could see small a small array of purple and blue lines making their way across the screen. Like ripples in a pond after throwing a stone in, they seemed to start in the middle then grow, before disappearing out of the screen.

"Yeah, it is a STR," I confirmed, "I was taught about them in UNIT."

"But not how to disable them?" Clyde asked, in disbelief.

"Hey, UNIT are good, but they're not the best and we had other priorities at the time. Like maybe, saving you guys, because if we had used the only five minute we had left of possibly the entire existence of the human race, to bring back a bunch of Daleks, all you guys would be dead!" I exclaimed, growing louder as I went on.

"You are aware you're not making a lot of sense, right?" Rani checked, whilst Luke and Sarah Jane let out a small laugh at Clyde's taken aback expression.

"Oh, I never make any sense!" I scoffed, "I'll explain later."

"Now, as much as this is entertaining me, I really think we should get the school back," Sarah Jane interrupted.

"Of course," I nodded, as she aimed the sonic lipstick at the screen.

"You, four; run," she ordered, "I'll be right behind you."

"What? No, Sarah Jane, we're not leaving you..." Clyde protested.

"You won't be, you'll just have a thirty seconds head start," Sarah Jane contradicted.

Sighing, Clyde turned around and muttered something that I couldn't quite make out. As the screaming of the sonic pierced through the air, we ran, following Clyde and Rani who obviously knew the way out. The second the sonic stopped, there was a loud bang, like a firework going off. There were about five more- causing us to run faster- before Sarah Jane arrived next to us, feet pounding on the ground fast.

"Will you four hurry up," she smirked.

I grinned, sprinting forwards towards a hole in the ceiling, with the rungs of of a ladder poking out beneath. Assuming this was the way out, I took a strong grip of the bottom rung and pulled myself up and began to climb up. The ladder was beginning to rust, but it felt sturdy enough. I say 'felt' because once I was five or six rungs up, I couldn't see a thing; the only light from the bottom was being covered up by the figures beneath me climbing up, or waiting to get on the ladder.

Heart racing, I carried on pulling myself up with my hands aiming for the dot of light hovering above us. Once we finally made to the top and left the tunnel, the ground seemed to slightly shake beneath us and I knew that was from where the STR was over riding.

Finally, the ground gave on big shake, nearly toppling us all over onto each other, and then everything seemed to turn to normal. In fact, the basketball court behind us, was suddenly full of adolescents playing ball games.

"It worked," Rani grinned.

"Of course it worked!" I cried.

Sarah Jane let out another laugh before asking me, "Now, tell me, are you really his daughter?"

I rolled my eyes, annoyed. Though I did understand her doubt and replied. "Of course, who else would I be?"

"Anyone. You could be working for the Trickster," Clyde frowned, clearly believing me a lot less than anyone else.

"Trickster?" I questioned, racking my brain for the name, "Sorry, I don't know who- or what- they are."

"It's an Alien. It makes deals that look good, but there's some sort of catch, "Sarah jane explained, "Believe me, you don't want to run into him, ever."

"I'll try and keep my distance," I said, "But, I understand why you don't believe me entirely. All I can say is, the Doctor's my Father."

"Well, after school, Luke will bring you back to mine and I'll get Mr Smith to check," Sarah Jane told me, "But for now, you guys need to get back to school. It looks like it's lunch time at the moment."

* * *

**AN: Hope you enjoyed it. Sorry it's so short! **

**Thanks to **_Kberry, ClydeandRani4ever _**and **_An Awesome Unicorn _**for the fantastic reviews! xx**

**Nx**


	11. 10, I'm Rubbish At This

Stargazing

Chapter 10, I'm Rubbish At This

Star's POV

* * *

The rest of the school day was pretty dull compared to the previous events. Once everyone reappeared, with no memory of being taken through the excruciating process of teleported (and I'm speaking from experience here) at all, things ended up slightly confusing for us. And the teachers.

The senior members of staff were at a complete loss of where the school nurse, culinary science teacher and receptionist had gone. Halfway through lunchtime, police had arrived and began making their way around the dining hall questioning anybody. Clyde and me were questioned alone, since the school were aware that we'd been the last ones to see them before their 'disappearance'. All I could think was, thank god the school doesn't have CCTV.

When we weren't being questioned, we managed to grab some lunch from the school cafeteria (after running down to the sports hall and having them take a shower, after what was left of the Slitheen on them) where we managed to talk. Clyde was still acting off with me and though I was beginning to grow tired of it, I couldn't exactly blame him, could I? The others, Rani and Luke, were a lot nicer. Luke even offiered to walk me to Mrs Stockton's office so I could carry on with the assessments.

The afternoon went by pretty quick with me doing some ICT work under supervision, whilst they assessed me on it. The ICT teacher, Mr Phillips, was quite old- possibly just about to reach retirement age- but quite nice. To be honest, I found it quite ironic that someone reasonably elderly was a technology teacher. Especially since Rory was twenty-four, yet couldn't figure out how to use a touch-screen (when the screen crashed, he just poked it harder).

Then, once it approached three o'clock, I left the activities block (that half had been branded as a 'crime scene') and met Rani, Luke and Clyde outside the school gates, as we'd planned at lunch. Then, they directed me down the streets to where Luke and Sarah Jane lived, at numbr thirteen Bannerman Road. Clyde was still off with me, only talking to me when it was to fire an insult or accuse me of being 'untrustworthy' and 'alien'. I swiftly told him that I was alien and couldn't keep secrets, but other than that, I was completely trustworthy.

When we reached Sarah Jane and Luke's house, they went inside and led me up the stairs and right to the top, where the attic was. Now, the TARDIS was amazing. But the attic was... It was like a cross between human and alien (like me) worlds. With the interior and architect of Earth, as it layered down the perfect disgiuse. There was a PC in the corner and a two-seater sofa. Then, beneath the disguise of a human world, which only someone who knew about the stars and what lay beyond them, was the widest selection of alien gadgets, gizmos and ornaments I'd ever seen (and believe me, that was saying something).

It was beautiful.

Keys, portals and mythical (for other planets of course) lay strewn against the shelves that surrounded the walls, each catching the light in its own way. It was the perfect hideout, so obviously hidden.

"Wow," I muttered, walking into the attic, behind Luke and followed by Rani and Clyde. Sarah Jane stood up from the sofa where she was reading a newspaper as we came into the attic. From behind the sofa, came a metal dog, "And you have a robot dog! Oh, I saw one of those in the shops in Manchester last month! They're brilliant!" Rani gave me a strange look, "The year five thousand six hundred and ninety... three. Give or take a decade."

"You're not real," Clyde scoffed, "Why won't you tell us. It's obvious you're not who you say you are. You haven't answered half the questions I have. Plus, what you say half the time anyway does not make any sense."

"Oh, come on!" I cried, "I spent the whole of lunchtime ignoring you and you're ridiculous accusations! Yeah, I get why you don't believe me, but, I mean... What's your problem?"

"Oh, I'll tell you what my problem is," Clyde replied, angrily, "My problem is you. You arrive out of nowhere and start going on about all this time travel stuff. Half the stuff you say is just endless rubbish and you're obviously not telling the truth! Maybe if you just answered things _truthfully _I'd believe you."

"Look, sunshine, if you don't believe me then don't believe me. Yeah, I haven't been a hundred percent truthful with you, but I know what you're thinking; I'm not alien," I shouted.

"I thought you were the Doctor's daughter..." Rani cut in, quietly.

"Half human! I'm half human," I corrected, quickly, "But I'm not planning on destroying the world or anything like that."

"Well I never implied..."

"Hey, hey, hey," Sarah Jane cut across us suddenly, stepping between us, "Both of you calm down. Star, we'll get Mr Smith to scan you, to see if you really are who you say you are."

"Of course," I nodded. I was aware that Sarah Jane didn't believe me either, but was glad that she wasn't showing her disbelief- unlike Clyde.

She led me over to the centre of the room, whilst keeping a watchful eye on Clyde, before taking a step back away from me.

"Mr Smith," she said. Frowning, I began looking around for what she coyuld be speaking too, "I need you."

Suddenly, there was a blast of air and steam from the wall infront of us, as the wall seemed to divide into two pieces. My eyes-widened as a black screen appeared where the wall had just been, and beneath that a metal tray of buttons and levers (that vaguely reminded me of the TARDIS) were pushed out. A swirl of dancing colours swam around the screen; pinks' greens' blues; and oranges.

"How can I help you, Sarah Jane?" the computer seemed to ask.

"That's the Xylok?!" I asked, amazed, "But... But it came out of the wall!"

Sarah Jane said nothing, but gave me a small smile before turning to the computer. "Mr Smith, this is Star Song. I want all the information you can get on her. And then a full bio-scan on her."

"Of course, Sarah Jane," the Xylok obeyed, before images and numbers falshed through the screen. None stayed long enough to be visible, though it hurt your eyes to look at them, "Sarah Jane, I can find no records of someone called Star Song, matching her description."

"I told you!" Clyde declared.

I swore under my breath and put my head in my hands, before looking up and sighing.

"What?! Star! I trusted you!" Rani exclaimed, clearly upset.

"No, no, no. You don't understand. It's two thousand and nine. My name isn't Song yet," I shook my head, desperately.

"I think you better explain," Sarah Jane said, folding her arms and raising her eyebrows.

"Do the bio-scan first. Honestly, it will make more sense if you do. Otherwise, I can guarantee, you probably won't believe a word I say," I told them, being as serious as I could, without getting angry at my own stupidity.

"Mr Smith," Sarah Jane said, firmly, pursing her lips, "Scan her."

"Of course, Sarah Jane," the Xylok obeyed.

Without any warning, a green array of lights wormed out towards me, before running up and down my body. Breathing deeply, I waited for it to be over. It didn't hurt, though you could the the lines making their way through your body. Like a needle that didn't sting. After twenty seconds of unwanted pathways running through my veins and suspicious and anxious glances, the Xylok answered.

"According to her DNA, she is half-human and half-Time-Lord," Mr Smith replied.

"Time-_Lady_!" I corrected, hastily.

"She is the daughter of River Song and The Doctor," Mr Smith finished.

"See?" I asked, glancing around the room. Rani, Luke and Sarah Jane looked a tad guilty and apologetic. Though Sarah jane clearly wasn't over checking to see if what I said was true yet. Clyde, however, was still the same.

""Mr Smith's been wrong before. Maybe she's hacked into his systems or something," Clyde shrugged, "Besides, why didn't he pick you up on the name 'Star Song'. Why don't you explain that?"

"Because I don't exist now. Well, I do... But, I wasn't Star Song. I was Commander Star- I didn't have an official last name," I told them. Sighing, I turned towards the Xylok, "Mr Smith, search the name Star Carryington."

The computer didn't respond. It didn't even decline the instruction; it did nithing. As if I had said nothing. Luckily, Sarah Jane agreed to the instruction and the Xylok searched my previous name.

"Star Carryington was found on the doorstep of Carryington Foster Home, on the eigth of January nineteen ninety eight," Mr Smith explained, "Since her parents were never known, even though the police investigfated thoroughly, she was named after the care home that she grew up in. She currently attends Chingsford Primary School and is in year five."

I cringed, as I remembered that there were now two of me in two thousand and nine. That couldn't be good at all. Especially if we ever saw each other. I mean, I could never remember seeing someone who looked what I did now, but even if I did, I wouldn't remember it. To ten year old me, that would have just been an ordinary person passing in the street.

"So, that was why you wrote down nineteen ninety eight on that form?" Clyde asked.

"Yeah," I nodded, still thinking deeply about the 'timey-wimeyness' of it all and trying to figure a way around it.

"But you're fifteen now. Why are you not in school in... Two thousand and thirteen," Rani questioned, after quick mathematics.

"I don't know," I shrugged, "Dad probably got the time on the TARDIS wrong."

"He does that a lot," Sarah Jane agreed, chuckling slightly.

"Tell me about it, the first adventure I went with him, we ended up in a Nazi Concentration Camp and I nearly died," I laughed, softly, "Anyway... I am... Look, you guys _do _believe me now, right?"

"How can you prove you're from the future?" Clyde asked, not directly answering my question.

I thought for a moment before reaching into my school bag, and pulling out my iPod (the only thing human, that I got for my birthday) which Amy and Rory had given to me. I pulled out the headphones, before pressing play. The hard beat of a guitar began echoing through the room.

_Come on everybody, Listen up.  
I said come on everybody. Listen up!  
There's no time like the present,  
I said there's no time like the present,  
To open up our hearts and let love shine in..._

"This song," I showed them the screen as the music carried on playing, "_The end of the world _by _Deap Vally. _It came out at the end of twenty-twelve. Google it. You'll find nothing."

"Mr Smith," Sarah Jane gestured.

"I can find no results, Sarah Jane," the Xylok answered, after ten seconds or so, "We believe you."

"Thanks," I grinned. Glad that I'd finally convinced them- well, maybe not Clyde.

"So, what are you doing now. Travelling with the Doctor?" Sarah Jane questioned.

"Yeah," I nodded, "My grandparents come along every now and then for a few days. Sometimes I stay with them, too."

"What about your Mum? River Song, wasn't it? Was she a companion of his?" Sarah Jane asked.

"No, her parents were though. She was kidnapped, he saved her. Something along the lines of that, I guess," I shrugged, admitting that I didn't know much about my parents' relationship.

"So, were you kidnapped and sent to Earth?" Rani asked.

"No, Mum put me there herself. To keep me safe. She's in prison, and they wouldn't have let me lived if she kept me," I told her, with a small smile.

"Oh," Rani said, clearly sorry for asking.

"So, who was the Doctor's last companion? What regeneration is he on?" Sarah Jane asked, clearly desperate for some news.

"My grandparents. And he's in his eleventh," I answered.

"Eleventh? Last time I saw him, he was in his tenth," Sarah Jane chuckled, "And he had a companion called Rose."

"Rose Tyler? He talks about her often. Kind of annoying, it sounds like he's in love with her half the time," I rolled my eyes.

"What happened to her? Do you know?"

"She got stuck in a parallel universe, I think. Dad doesn't like to talk about her, so I don't know much about her," I admitted, sadly, "But he talks about you all the time!"

"Does he? Really?" Sarah Jane chuckled.

"All the time."

We talked for another half an hour or so, about all the adventures we'd had with Dad. Some of the places Dad had taken me in the TARDIS, it turned out Sarah Jane had been to, too. It was strange. Like, we'd met because of fate. Of course, Dad tad told me that 'fate' didn't exist and that and coincidences that ever happened were either just coincidences, or, as he put it, timey-wimey things that the universe made happen. To me, that sounded like fate.

After rambling on about the different adventures, whilst Clyde, Luke and Rani listened in and commented on something every now and then, I realised something.

Dad didn't know that I was in two thousand and nine. He thought that he'd taken me to two thousand and thirteen. He'd arranged to pick me up where he dropped me off, at the corner shop ten minutes away from the school. Of course, if the TARDIS knew that they'd left me in two thousand and nine, then she'd take them back there. But as far as Dad knew, I was in two thousand and thirteen. If he set the TARDIS to go there and she- for once- obeyed, then what would happen.

"I've gotta go," I said, suddenly, jumping up from the orange sofa.

"What? Where are you going?" Sarah Jane asked, confused.

"My Dad, I've got to find him. He thinks I'm in two thousand and thirteen- possibly. If not, I should've met him once school had finished," I explained.

"I'll show you out," Luke offered, standing up.

"Thanks," I smiled, "I'll see you guys at school, Sarah Jane, see you sometime."

"Oh, come over tomorrow, after school if you can," Sarah Jane replied, "And see if you can get your Dad to drop in."

"Of course," I grinned, "See you then."

Luke led me out of the attic, down the stairs and out of the front door. I expected him to go inside and was about to turn around to say thanks for walking me out of the door, when he carried on and led me to behind the bush, which hid the road from the house.

"I thought you were just going to walk me out the door," I said, confused.

"Yeah, well... Just wanted to make sure you were all right and... Stuff," he shrugged.

"Thanks," I smiled.

"And I just wanted you to know that, I believed you from the start," he added. He looked very nervous, but I could tell he was forcing all the confidence he had out.

"Really? Thanks," I repeated.

"And, erm... I was just wondering... If you ever wanted to... You know, hang out sometime, then... Then that would be cool," he told me.

"Oh," I said, simply, "Oh, I... I... You, err, you mean like a date?"

"No, not _like _a date. _A _date."

"Oh."

"I... I'm sorry," he shook his head and looked down, embarrassed, "Sorry, I'm... I'm rubbish at this. Sorry, just... See you."

He turned around and began to make his way back to his house. I wasn't quite sure what was going on at the time, possibly wasn't even sure what I was doing. But I did it. I garbbed out to his arm and pulled him back.

"I'm rubbish at this too," I admitted, before pulling him closer.

In a split second, our lips met.

* * *

**AN: I don't know why, but I just see these two together. **

**Like the chapter says, the song lyrics are from **_The End of The World by Deap Vally._ **Which I obviously do not own! I have nowhere near as good as talent as that song displays! **

**Reviews mean the world! xx**


	12. 11, I'll Take The Coma, Thanks

Stargazing

Chapter 11, I'll Take The Coma, Thanks

Star's POV

* * *

"Oh my god," I breathed.

We were slightly apart now, our faces about three centimetres apart. We could feel each other's breath; warm and sweet. I'd never had any intimacy like this before with another person like this before. Well, not in this sort of way. Realising that I'd just had my first kiss, a shiver went for me.

"My first kiss," Luke whispered, as if he could read my mind.

"Same," I agreed, only just realising I was breathing a lot deeper than normal.

Neither of us moved for a few more seconds. It was nearly impossible to explain and describe. However, there didn't seem to be anything wrong with the few seconds that passed. In fact, they seemed to be perfect. Not awkward at all. Though it didn't last. After a few seconds, it became a tiny bit awkward and neither of us knew what to do. Of course, neither of us had known what we were doing before, but it hadn't been a problem then. Then, it had just been a 'what was going to come next?' situation. Now, it was like 'what do we do now?' And neither of us knew.

"Anyway..." Luke said, standing up straighter, "I'll see you tomorrow."

"Yeah, see you tomorrow- I think," I told him. He gave a me a quizzical look, "Dad might get the times wrong, or something. Either way though, I'll be there tomorrow."

"C-cool," he nodded.

"Yeah..."

Both of us looked like complete idiots and both of us knew we did. We knew no one was looking, but we still felt embarrassed. Like we'd just done something we shouldn't have. Though I could tell we were both glad that we'd kissed.

"So... See you," Luke said, walking away.

"See you," I nodded, as Luke disappeared behind the hedge that hid the house from the road.

Once he'd disappeared from sight, I breathed a sigh of relief. Well, I wasn't exactly relieved, but I couldn't find another word to explain it.

Shaking my head, I tried to get my bearings of my surroundings. I knew Sarah Jane lived in Bannerman Road and I could just about remember the way back to the school from there. Then, Dad would be picking me up at the same place he'd dropped me off (probably before going to about five different planets and times with Amy and Rory), which was outside a corner shop. The walk to the school had been about ten minutes from there and I estimated that the walk to the school from Sarah Jane's was about the same. However, since I could only just remember the way, there was a large possibility that it would take twice as long for me, than someone who has their bearings correct.

Knowing I didn't have time to waste, I set off down the pathway towards the school. The streets didn't seem to be any different from how they looked four years later. Then again, four years wasn't such a long time and there wasn't much time for technology to take such a leap. Especially when compared to things I'd seen in different times. The only thing I really noticed that was different, was mobile phones. As people walked down the roads texting or calling, I could see that some phones were still pretty basic. Some were similar to phones back in two thousand and thirteen, (well the start of it anyway) with touch-screens and things like that. But there was still quite a difference.

Once I got back to the school, and found myself back where I'd arrived that morning, I glanced around and tried to re-trace my steps. Before, I'd simply asked directions for the school (since Dad couldn't leave the TARDIS near the school) but now I couldn't exactly remember the directions I'd been given. Plus, I couldn't now ask directions to a blue box (since I didn't know the name of the shops).

I remembered making my way down the opposite pathway, so I went down there, even though I didn't know where I would go once the pathway would divide into more pathways. With a frustrated sigh, I carried on walking.

I was so deep in thoughts, that I didn't nearly didn't realise something. But I did. A woman with long, bright red hair was in the distance, coming my way. I knew the was no definite evidence to assume that was Amy; though ginger hair wasn't the most popular, Amy wouldn't be the only person in the world with the colour. Of course, I'd be glad to see Amy. But in this case, if it was her, it might not have been the one I knew. It could have easily been the past Amy, who I wasn't sure if she had even started travelling with the Doctor yet. Wherever she was in her time-line, I knew one thing: she couldn't see me.

I panicked.

Dad had often spoken about paradoxes like this and told me how to avoid them. He didn't exactly trust me yet, which was why he only took me to places that weren't dangerous and there was no chance of messing up time-lines. Now, I really wished I'd been in a situation like this before. Then, I would have experience in this matter, because I had no idea what to do at all.

Quickly, I dashed off to the other side of the road, in hope she wouldn't even glance at me. It wasn't an a hundred percent guarantee that she wouldn't see me, but it was the best I had. And it was less of a chance then if we were to walk in opposite directions, on the same path. In fact, that was definite that she'd see me. Everyone always looked in front of them. Even if I was looking down, she could still see the edge of my face.

Truthfully, I didn't see how it could cause such a big problem. But I knew it could. Somehow.

As I was walking across the road, a blue ford came driving down. I didn't notice it until there was a loud screech from a few metres away. Jumping, I swirled around, to discover that the car was pretty much right next to me; about three centimetres away. Realising that I hadn't even bothered to check the road for cars, I held my hand up to the driver to apologise. He obviously didn't take it very well, when he replied with several curses.

"Star?" a voice from behind me called. I turned round and saw the redhead- who was definitely Amy- running towards me. My first thought was _crap, she's seen me._ But then I realised, she knew my name. And it was the Amy from my time. "Oh, god, Star, it is you." She ran over to me, then stopped once she was next to me.

"Auntie Amy?" I said, still in shock, "It's you."

"Of course it's me," Amy tusked, "Who else would I be?"

"Never mind, I just... Thought it was a different you," I told her.

"Would you ladies mind moving?" the driver from inside the blue car called, angrily.

"Yeah, sorry!" Amy called in response, before taking hold of my arm and pulling me back on to the pathway, "So you figured out you're in two thousand and nine."

"Yeah, kinda hard to miss. How long did it take Dad to realise?" I questioned.

"About that. He did that on purpose... I think."

"He did what?!" I exclaimed, "Wha... What? Why?"

"Don't ask me," Amy shrugged, "He just kind of implied he knew. Anyway, come on, let's get back."

-X-

"Ow! Ow! Ow!" I moaned, as Dad held his sonic screwdriver against my neck, "It's just a bruise, why are you... Ow!... Why are you torturing me for something that will heal in a few days."

I was back in the TARDIS now, sitting on the strange, abnormally shaped chair by the rails. As soon as Amy and me had gotten back, Rory had noticed something that looked like a bruise on my neck, as I'd tied my hair up (the atmosphere in the TARDIS seemed to make it go static). Since I couldn't exactly see it, I didn't know what it was, but I'd taken Amy's word for it, which was 'it was a bruise'. Until Dad had said something about it not being a bruise, then a whole load of words none of us understood about blood tissue and muscles. Well, I think Rory's nursing training meant he understood some of it, but with Dad's incredibly fast talking, you could barely ever make sense of what he said.

Anyway, Dad had ended up 'sonicing' me to find out what it was and to get rid of it- if he could.

"It isn't a bruise," Dad pointed out, "It's a strong anaesthetic, the traces of it are still in your veins. If I don't get rid of it now, it will put you in a five month coma."

"I'll take the coma, thanks," I hissed, "At least I can't feel anything in a coma."

Dad didn't reply to my comment, but smiled slightly, entertained. I frowned. I wasn't lying when I said I would prefer a coma. Dad had 'soniced' me plenty of times, but I'd never been able to feel it before. This time, it hurt _a_ _lot. _It felt like a blunt, large, block sink into me and push cells out. Like a sort of jabbing pain. Biting my lip, I tried to suppress the winces and complaints, but it wasn't working very well.

"Stop complaining," Dad muttered, "Who did this to you anyway?"

"Slitheen," I replied, "Ow! How long will this take?"

"Thirty seconds or so more," he estimated.

"What, and you managed to fight them of on your own?" Amy asked.

"Well, no..." I began, but sopped when I saw a quick smirk cross Dad's face, "Oh my god, that's why you did it, isn't it?"

"Did what?" Dad asked, innocently, putting the screwdriver back in his pocket/

"You... You sent me to the wrong year so I'd meet Sarah Jane!" I accused, angling my head so it was straight again and rubbing the patch Dad had been 'sonicing'.

"Who's Sarah Jane?" Rory asked.

"One of Dad's old companions," I answered, "She has a talking robot dog and everything!"

"Oh, K-9, how is he?" Dad questioned, still pretending to be innocent.

"He's as good as a robot dog can be, I suppose," I replied, "But why did you send me to two thousand and six, without telling me?"

"It's a long story," Dad shook his head, "You'll find out soon."


	13. 12 Things Are Changing

Stargazing

Chapter 12, Things Are Changing

Star's POV

* * *

_Met one of Dad's past companions today. Weird! Honestly, her name's Sarah Jane Smith (I have no idea whether Dad's ever told you about her) and she travelled with Dad in the seventies. Even now, she's still helping save the word though. She has a Xylok in her attic wall AND a talking, robot dog. Not to mention, an absolutely gorgeous son (who I may have kissed...). _

_Anyway, Sarah Jane saves the world with help from this bunch of kids, who I met at school. The school was invaded by Slitheens and loads of shiz (NOT swearing; notice the z?) went down and they ended up saving me. Anyway, in the end, I spent ages convincing them who I was and it still took several DNA tests through the Xylok to convince them. IN fact, I still don't think they're all convinced._

_School's too normal to write about, so I won't say much. Just the teachers were really confused when half the staff disappeared (the Slit_

"Star?" Amy called from outside, knocking on my bedroom door.

I looked up from the diary. "Come in."

The door opened and in walked the redhead, smiling softly. She pushed the door right open, letting in the yellow light from the TARDIS' corridors, before shutting it gently.

"Writing in your diary?" she asked, gesturing towards the blue book. I nodded in response, and Amy came and sat down at the end of my bed, and tried to peer over my lap to read what I'd written. Instantly, I snapped the diary shut, but clearly not soon enough. A wide smirk spread itself across the woman's face. "Who've you kissed?"

"N...N... No one!" I exclaimed, in defence.

The redhead rolled her eyes. "Oh, don't get all embarrassed!" she laughed, "Come on, who was it? I may be you grandmother, but I'm incredibly young; I just like gossip. I'm not going to make any fun of you if that's what you're worried about."

"Promise?"

"Promise."

"Okay, well, Sarah Jane has a son, Luke," I began, "And..."

"And you kissed him?" Amy finished, quizzically.

"Yeah..." I said, slowly, nodding my head, "A tiny bit."

"A tiny bit?" Amy checked.

"Just a... Just a tiny bit," I cringed. Amy burst out laughing, and nearly fell off the bed, making me giggle too. "Hey," I began once she'd calmed down, "Don't tell Dad. Please."

"Of course not," she smiled, "Though it would be funny to see how he'd react to it."

"No, it wouldn't. He'd go into one of his weird moods, or as you guys like to call them 'emotions'," I mocked.

I stood up and placed my diary on the bookshelf between the two books I always kept it between; _Mansfield Park _and _Wuthering Heights. _

"You know, I love how this room is just like any other teenagers," Amy said, kicking her feet up on the bed.

"Well, technically, I am just 'any other teenager'."

Amy looked at me in disbelief for a few seconds, before we both sniggered. Once we'd calmed down, we exchanged a quick smile before I glanced around, trying to see if Amy's theory was correct. In a way, it was just like any other fifteen year old's bedroom the walls were a crimson red and the floorboards were a pale brown, with a white rug in the centre. My bed- I'd finally convinced Dad to get rid of the bunk bed- had a dark reddish-purplish cover with a matching pillow, which were both crumpled up (I never made my bed). There was a book case, a desk and a built-in wardrobe at the other end of the room. However, with the exception of the wardrobe, I never really used those pieces of furniture.

Amy was right; nearly. Truthfully, any teenage girl would see this as a normal room, but I didn't. Maybe they just couldn't see what I could see. For starters, there was my diary; filled with stories of adventures I'd been on with Dad. Then, beneath the desk, there was a rolled up map of The Ninth Galaxy, Calagretanity and all its different stars (Dad had attempted to teach me 'extremely interesting but not stuff that you really need to know' Geography, but when I couldn't even pronounce the name of the Galaxy he gave up). Then there was a dream caught hanging at the end of my bed, only it actually worked. The fibres on the string were able to reach into my mind whilst I was in an unconscious state and save all of the good memories.

However, I supposed that an 'ordinary' teenager wouldn't notice any of that.

"Auntie Ames?" I began, turning around to face her.

"Yes?" she inquired.

"Can I stay at yours for a couple of nights? Just two or three..."

"Of course," Amy grinned, jumping up from the bed. "You know you can whenever you want to."

"Thanks," I smiled back.

"Though, you do have school tomorrow, so..."

"I'll bring my VM and just get there like that," I interrupted, shrugging.

"Fine," Amy smirked, "But _you _have to tell your Dad."

"Like he'll care," I laughed.

"Oh, believe me, he does. He doesn't quite trust you with that yet- especially since your Mum gave it to you," Amy said, still smirking, as she leant over with her hand on the door handle. Swinging it open, she spoke again, "You haven't wanted to stay with us since six weeks after we met you. Why now?"

"Things are changing," I shrugged, with a small smile, "Do I really need to say more than that?"

-X-

_Sarah Jane's POV_

Luke bounded back into the attic with an expression on his face that, if my memory served me correctly, I hadn't seen him wear before. Sort of embarrassed, but happy. Very, very happy. And pleased with himself. Lots of other things to. In fact, his face seemed to be displaying almost every emotion in the book.

"Luke?" I began, as he threw himself down onto the step beneath Mr Smith. He turned towards me in response. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah." Luke nodded, giving me a small smile.

"You sure mate, you look..." Clyde hesitated, "Different."

"I'm..." Luke paused as if he were searching for a word to use. "Great. I'm great."

"Okay," I smiled, quietly.

Clyde rolled his eyes, before sitting down beside Luke and giving him a strong pat on the back, grinning widely. "I knew it!"

"Knew what?" Rani questioned, sitting the other side of Clyde.

"Luke's got a thing for Star..." he teased.

"W...what?" I stammered, laughing.

Clyde turned around and opened his mouth to reply, but was interrupted by a sudden, unannounced draft that flew through the room, like a plane flying past you. A metallic, whirring began and I immediately knew what was happening.

"Sarah Jane, Artron energy is present in the attic," Mr Smith announced, just as the ghost of a certain blue box pulsed in front of us.

In shock, confusion and surprise, the three teenagers stood up quickly, all giving quizzical expressions. However, it wasn't long until their unspoken questions were answered. Just as the whirring, thrumming and breeze subsided, a telephone box stood in the middle of the attic, as clear as crystal.

"What?" Clyde murmured, "What's this...?"

Before I could reply, the door of the blue box opened and there stood a man, in a brown suit and maroon bow tie. He had a cheeky, mischievous, yet innocent grin on his face and scruffy brown hair. I hadn't seen him like this before, but I still knew it was him.

"It's him," I breathed, "It's the Doctor."

"Yep, that's me," he beamed, stepping out of the TARDIS and into the attic. "It's been ages since I've seen this place. Oh! K-9!" He exclaimed, as his eyes fell upon the dog, who was waiting obediently, by the settee.

"Hello, Master," K-9 beeped in the corner, wheeling down over to him.

"Oh, who's a good dog?" the Doctor cooed, bending down and patting K-9 on his head. "You are aren't you! Yes, you are!"

"Affirmative, Master," K-9 agreed.

"Oh, always the modest one, aren't you K-9!" I laughed, clapping my hands together, before turning to the Doctor. "Doctor."

"Sarah Jane Smith," He greeted, pulling me into his arms. "How are you?"

"I'm fine," I replied, still smiling, as I was let out of his arms. "And you?"

"Oh, usual," he tutted. "And Luke! It's been a while. And Clyde. And Rani! How time does fly by!"

"Who are you?" Rani asked, nervously, folding her arms.

"Oh, Rani. Don't you understand? It's him! It's the Doctor!" I exclaimed, happily.

"What? _The _Doctor?" Clyde queried.

"Yep, that's me!" the Doctor grinned.

"But... How'd he know who I was?" Clyde asked, puzzled.

"He's a time-traveller," Luke pointed out, "He could have seen the older us, and we seen the younger him."

"Exactly," the Doctor confirmed, "Anyway, can't stay long; just thought I'd pop in to say hello and... Oh yes! That was it." He cried, clicking his fingers.

"What was it?" Rani questioned.

"You met Star, Star Song, today. Am I correct?" he asked. We all replied with a quick nod. " Right, yes, my daughter..."

"I told you she was telling the truth," Rani smirked.

"Of course she was telling the truth!" the Doctor exclaimed, seeming offended, "Anyway, yes, Star; look after her. And, you'll be seeing me again soon, but a past me; one that didn't know Star. Well, yet. Just remember..." He began, walking back over to the TARDIS door. "Don't tell her yet. Wait until I- the past me, that is- comes. Then, tell her she can't tell me- again, that's the past me- who I am. Got it?"

"Yes..." I began.

"Where's Star now?" Luke asked, seeming eager- which was strange for him.

"Oh, she's gone to her grandparents. She was a bit tired after today, and such," the Doctor replied, "Anyway, best be off. And don't worry, you'll be seeing me soon."

"When?" I demanded, even more eager than Luke had seemed.

"Soon," the Doctor promised stepping inside the door.

He was just about to lose it, when I spoke again. "Doctor!"

He turned towards me. "Yes?"

"Why now? Why am I seeing you again now?" I questioned.

"Because," the Doctor smiled, "Things are changing."

And with that, the doors to the blue box closed and within a few seconds, that all to familiar whir started up again. Then, after half a minute or less, there was no trace that it had ever been there.

"Yes," I whispered to myself, "Yes they are changing."

And I knew they were changing for the better.


	14. 13 I Am Grown Up, Just Not Mature

**AN: What's this AN doing at the top? :P Okay, t's here because this is a new adventure/episode. The rest of this story is set during **_The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith __**and all speech from the episode will be in italics. x**_

* * *

Stargazing

Chapter 13, I Am Grown Up, Just Not Mature

Star's POV

* * *

I materialised into Amy and Rory's downstairs hallway, in two thousand and thirteen. Once I was stable in the dimension, I looked around, just to double-check I was where I'd set the co-ordinates for (I didn't want a repeat of last Tuesday), before glancing back down to the Vortex Manipulator and checking the time and date. **_15:35 25/06/2013 _**By the looks of things, I was in the right place, at the right time.

Breathing a sigh of relief (I'd recently learnt never to let your guard down until you're sure about your surroundings), I dropped my school bag down, off my shoulder, hooking it on to the stair banisters, and taking my jacket off and hanging it on top- I kept the VM around my wrist tight, just in case.

"Auntie Ames? Uncle Rory?" I called, walking down the hall in search for them.

"In here!" I heard Uncle Rory call from the living room.

I turned around and made my way into the living room, to find Rory sitting in front of the television. He was in his blue scrubs- so I assumed he'd only recently returned from work-with his feet up on the foot stall, that matched the brown, leather sofa. The television was far too big for my eyes to handle- I was too used to the TARDIS's small screen- and was playing a football match between two teams I'd never heard of. The rest of the room was big, but at first glance seemed small, since it was extremely unorganised. Amy's modelling jobs earnt a lot more than Rory's job as a nurse did and both of them were home a majority of the time, so I often wondered why the house was always so messy; couldn't they either employ a cleaner with Amy's wage, or use their time at home to tidy?

Kicking an old **_Radio Times_ **out of my way, I made my way over to the settee and landed down carelessly, beside him. He barely noticed, as one of the teams (the one in the blue uniform) scored.

"Oh, yes!" Rory exclaimed, punching the air with his fist and jumping up- landing with more of an impact than me. "Get in there!"

I frowned and waited for Rory to turn around to see my expression, but he didn't. "Grow up," I said instead, still keeping my frown in place.

He turned around twice; once quickly, then again for longer. He merely rolled his eyes and shook his head. "I am grown up," he replied, "Just not mature."

"Same thing," I shrugged. When I didn't get a reply, I spoke again. "Where's Auntie Amy?"

"Garden," he answered, simply.

Deciding that Amy would be a lot easier to make conversation with, I got up without another word and made my way over to the hall and towards the kitchen. Nearly slipping over on what probably was a yoghurt from this morning's breakfast (most likely mine, since I was the only one who ate strawberry yoghurt and the cream was a pale, peachy pink) I opened the back garden door and walked down the path, towards the table and four chairs, one of which, Amy was sitting on and reading a book. I could only see her hair from behind, but with her bight, vivid red hair, it was impossible to not know if it was here.

For an early Summer day, the sun was shining down brightly. Walking down towards Amy, I slipped my school blazer off- it had been a lot colder in two- thousand and nine- and tied it around my waist and rolled my sleeves of my school blouse up. Once I'd taken my seat next to Amy, I was loosening the red and gold tie from around my neck- even without the heat it was suffocating.

"Hey," I greeted.

"Hi," Amy smiled, looking up from a book, that I couldn't see the front cover of, "How was school?"

"Eugh," I groaned, "I still hate you for making me go."

Amy raised her eyebrows. "Do you really?" she queried.

I thought for a second, before realising she was speaking about Luke and answering. "No."

"Didn't think so," Amy chuckled, "How's it going between you two?"

"Good," I nodded.

"Really?" she questioned, putting her book down onto the table, allowing me to see she was reading _Caitlin Moran. _

"Of course," I scoffed, "Why wouldn't it be?"

"Well, you're back a lot more early than usual," Amy pointed out, shifting her weight over to the left, so she was facing me. "You normally don't come back until after six. Sometimes you're out until ten!"

I shook my head. Since I was living in a different time to the one I went to school in, things had gotten a little complicated. Okay, very complicated. Since Amy and Rory weren't supposed to go to two-thousand and nine, incase they bumped into the past them, which according to Dad, could end in something bad. However, I couldn't change to a future school since then I would still be on the records for Park Vale in two-thousand and nine. But since I was living with Amy and Rory more often than with Dad in the TARDIS, I got around using the Vortex Manipulator, that Mum sent to me for my birthday. So timelines didn't get to confusing, I went by the same time and date, but not year. Meaning, if I left two-thousand and nine at six-fourty-five, the third of May, I would arrive in two-thousand and thirteen, six-fourty-five, the third of May.

"He's going through some stuff with Sarah Jane at the moment," I told her, "She's lying to him and he's not sure why- none of us are. Every week she makes up some excuse about a meeting and we can tell she's lying 'cause, well, she's terrible at lying! She's leaving at half-six and I told Luke I'd go to his at six, but right now, I just wanted to leave them alone. Incase he confronted her about it or something."

"What? And you didn't want her thinking his girlfriend had influenced a confrontation?" Amy asked.

I shook my head. "She doesn't know we're together yet."

"Still?!" Amy exclaimed, "But you've been together six months now."

"It hasn't come up yet," I shrugged, "Luke isn't sure on how his Mum will react and to be honest, I'm not sure if I want to find out."

"So, you're always at his, but you just act as friends?" Amy questioned, seeming doubtful.

"He has a bedroom," I pointed out. Amy gave me a strange look and it took a while for me to realise what I'd said and for it to sink in. "I didn't mean it like that!" I cried laughing.

"Course you didn't," Amy smirked, picking her book back up and beginning to read it again.

"I didn't!" I protested, laughing.

Amy shook her head and turned towards me. "It's too hot out here, let's go inside."

I nodded and we got up and made our way towards the house. Once inside, we sat down at the kitchen table, pushing a selection of beauty, gossip and sports magazines out of the way. Since I hadn't eaten since lunch, where I'd bought a portion of chips from the school diner, I took an apple out of the fruit bowl and bit into it. Amy switched the radio on and a cheesy, boy band pop tune began playing, making me groan.

"Oh, how I missed this tack' in two-thousand and nine," I quipped.

"Oh, you love it really," Amy grinned.

"No, I don't," I told her, firmly, even though I knew she was only joking. "I really don't."

"Anyway," Amy began, changing the subject, "Anything interesting happen in the past?"

"No," I shook my head, "Anything interesting happen here? Has he shown his face yet?"

Amy shook her head solemnly. "Not yet, Star," she told me, quietly.

"Okay," I gulped, looking down at the oak table.

"Star," Amy began, placing her hand on my arm, reassuringly. I looked up. "He will come back."

"Even if he does, it could be anytime," I whispered, "I mean, how long did you have to wait?"

"That's different," Amy reminded.

"How?"

"Lots of reasons. One of them, you're his daughter. He's not going to abandon you anytime soon. Besides, you still have five times to meet your Mum; that's gotta' count for something, right?"

"Yeah, but I don't know when. Just as we don't know when Dad will come back."

"But we know he will. And we both know that you will see your Mum again too."

"Hmm," I muttered, "I suppose you're right. It's just... I mean, I've been here six weeks now. I haven't seen him once. I said I only wanted to stay here a few days-no offence. But... I know nothing's happened to him; he's too smart and quick-thinking. But, if he's out there, alive and well, then the only reason for him to not to have come back, is that he has abandoned me."

"Oh, Star," Amy murmured, "That isn't true. he's probably just screwed things up with the dates or something stupid. He promised you he'd come back and he never breaks his promises. He'll be back before you know it."

I let out a sigh. "I hope so."


	15. 14 Sticks and Stones

Stargazing

Chapter 14, Sticks and Stones

Star's POV

* * *

Two and a half hours later, I left Amy and Rory's house and left for the twenty-fifth of June, two thousand and nine. When I materialised into the Sarah Jane's attic, I found Luke sitting at the desk, back hunched over, with K-9 next to him. As he heard the sharp sound of the two times being shot together for a split second, so I could get in, he jumped and turned around.

"Hey," I greeted, smiling, "Your Mum left yet?"

"No, she's downstairs getting ready," Luke replied, "She's just about to leave, I think."

I nodded, before making my way over to him. Since Sarah Jane was on the floor below and we were alone, we shared a quick kiss. Well, I say quick, but it was a bit more than that. I mean, nothing serious happened, neither of us were ready yet, but it was a bit more than just a simple kiss.

When we heard footsteps coming towards the attic, we immediately jumped apart like there was some sort of electric ball in between us. A few seconds later, Sarah Jane walked in, glancing between us. Both of us gave her a far too innocent smile and it was clear it caused her some confusion. However, clearly with other things on her mind, she simply shook her head.

"Oh, hello, Star," Sarah Jane greeted, walking down towards a mirror on one of the pillars in the attic, "When did you get here?"

"Just a few seconds ago," I shrugged, before gesturing to her clothing, "You look nice. Are you going out somewhere?"

"Didn't Luke tell you?" Sarah Jane questioned, glancing strangely between us for a second time, before looking at herself in the mirror and carefully rearranging a few messy strands of her brown hair.

In truth, she actually did look quite nice. It looked as if she'd straightened her hair instead of just brushing it and leaving it at that and had put on some black jeans instead of the tailored trousers she normally wore and a white blouse and jacket.

"Oh, yeah," I said, pretending to remember when I'd known all along. My acting skills were terrible meaning, that it would be obvious that we knew something was going on, "He said something about a meeting at the town hall. A motorway extension, wasn't it?"

"Yeah, that was it," Sarah Jane nodded. It was clear she could tell I was faking, but I wondered why she didn't say it aloud. Maybe she thought she was just being paranoid, or maybe she was worried that she'd end up telling us where she was _really _going, if she confronted me. "Anyway, I need to get going. _See you later."_

"_Yeah, see you, Mum,"_ Luke replied, "_Have a good evening." _

"Bye Sarah Jane," I told her, with a small smile.

"_You, too," _she said to both of us, before turning to K-9, "_Bye, K-9." _

"_Enjoy your evening, Mistress," _K-9 beeped, the light on his head flashing red.

"_Yeah," _Sarah Jane agreed, but more as if she was speaking to herself and then left.

The whole room went silent and when the door closed it seemed to trigger something. Everything turned into a fast moving blur. Luke jumped out of his seat and I ran over closer to the wall, where Mr Smith was dormant.

"_Mr Smith, I need you. Quickly and quietly!_" Luke instructed.

Just a second after, the walls unfolded and the Xylok appeared, but without the smoke blowing and sirens wailing, it didn't seem as heroic and amazing as it usually did. Then again, I supposed that didn't matter; what mattered was that Sarah Jane wouldn't hear us. After all, I didn't even want to think about what would happen if she found out we were spying on her. I knew she had a right to her own, private life, but according to Clyde, Luke and Rani, last time she kept a secret, it ended badly. And since Dad had abandoned Sarah Jane (though without meaning to) I felt that I owed it to her to make sure she didn't get hurt- especially since I now felt I was in the same boat as her; I hadn't seen Dad for ages now and I was really beginning to doubt if I would ever see him again.

"_Quickly and quietly,"_ Mr Smith repeated.

"Ring Clyde and Rani, I'll set up the tracker," I told Luke.

He gave me a nod, and reached into his pocket, he put it to his ear quickly that it nearly fell out of his hands. After pressing a few buttons, I could hear a faint sound of the rings. "_She's off again!"_ Luke said into the phone.

Whilst he rang the other two, I reached into my pocket and took out a black USB cable, which for my liking, felt to ordinary for us to use. Though simple it was effective and had taken less time to set up than alien technology would have. I plugged it into Mr Smith and the small box, which worked as a satellite, connecting to the small disc we'd placed on the wheel of Sarah Jane's car on the way back from school. Luke and me had made it the day before, when Sarah Jane had first announced she'd be going out. We didn't really need any specialist equipment; just a few bits and bobs from a now broken radio and printer.

"_How can I help you, Luke?" _Mr Smith questioned.

"Hey!" I cried, "It would be nice to acknowledge my existence one in a while, you know!"

Both Luke and Mr Smith ignored me, but K-9, who was still sitting by the desk let out a small beep and whir as he came forward to me. "Due to the fact that you prefer me over Mr Smith, Mr Smith refuses to follow orders from you, Mistress Song."

"Ah, well, it's not his fault that he's as cool as a robot dog," I smirked, then threw a glare at Mr Smith, not sure whether he could see me or not, "Though I do feel a bit like I'm in a primary school for the fifty-first century sometimes."

"You're worse than them put together, you know that?" Luke teased, before turning towards the computer, "_Activate tracking device, Mr Smith. Aerial satellite scan." _

Suddenly, the doors burst open and in walked Clyde and Rani.

"_So, what was her story this time?" _Rani asked.

"_She_ _says she's going to a meeting at the town hall, about a motorway extension," _Luke replied, shaking his head.

"_Mistress' exact words: you never know, Luke, there could be a story in it," _K-9 said.

"_Her excuses just keep getting lamer and lamer," _Clyde frowned, bending down by the robot dog.

"_Affirmative. Veracity level twelve percent," _K-9 informed us, kind of unnecessarily, since we were already sure she was lying. We just didn't know what she was so desperate to cover up. Hundreds of reasons had ran through our minds, we'd gone from the most obvious to the craziest- and some really weird ones that Clyde had come up with. The others thought it was something to do with aliens, but I wasn't so sure. Though I didn't know what else could it be, so I suppose I agreed with that theory, too.

"_Why is she lying to us?"_ Clyde thought out loud.

Since none of us actually knew why she was lying, we all glanced towards Mr Smith, who was now displaying a map of the roads, with Sarah Jane's car, a small, red, pulsing dot travelling across.

"_She's heading into town_," Rani pointed out.

"Well, she's telling the truth so far then," I muttered, certain that she would change course soon.

"Query_:__ am I to understand that you are using my tracking system to spy on Sarah Jane?" _Mr Smith asked.

"No, of course not! We're using a tracking system of my design," I smirked.

"I designed it," Luke added, quickly.

"We then," I shrugged, "But, yeah, we are spying on her. Just a tiny bit."

"_It's the fifth time she's done this in a month, Mr Smith,"_ Rani said, "_We've got to find out what she's really doing." _

"_She goes off on her own, all mysterious... What if she gets into trouble?" _Clyde queried.

"Which she won't if I have anything to do with this," I put in, leaning back on the arm of the settee.

"_This is highly irregular behaviour," _Mr Smith scolded.

"_Do not exceed your function, Mr Smith," _K-9 instructed, _"Your opinion has not been asked for." _

"_That told you!" _Clyde laughed, patting K-9 on his head, "_Good dog!"_

"_Affirmative, Master Clyde," _K-9 agreed.

"Such the modest, eh?" I grinned, before turning back Mr Smith had noticing that the red dot was no longer moving across the screen. "She's stopped."

"_Nowhere near the town hall," _Luke added.

"_There, she was lying, knew it," _Rani shook her head, folding her arms.

"_Scan for alien activity in the area, K-9," _Clyde instructed.

Rani and me both went over, kneeling by the robot dog and waiting for an answer. K-9 let out a small beep and his red antennae- that always reminded me off a toilet plunger- went up. It was only a few seconds, until K-9 let the antennae back down.

"_Negative for alien activity, Master Clyde,"_ K-9 answered.

"_I am perfectly able to perform that function, Clyde; there's no need to consult the dog," _Mr Smith argued, obviously offended that we'd chosen K-9 over him. I didn't really understand how a Xylok could have feelings, since it just was a computer, but according to Dad, there's a whole campaign fighting for Xylok's rights in the year fifty-one thousand-ninety-four.

"_Sticks and stones,"_ K-9 teased.

"_So, what now then? We follow her down there?"_ Rani asked.

Without a word, Luke grabbed his hoodie from the back off the chair and put it on. When we all stared at him, giving him a look that reminded him we couldn't communicate telepathically, he sighed. "_Come on. Two minutes to the next bus." _

"Do you know, like every bus time-table in London?" I joked.

"Glasgow's, too," Luke smiled. At first, I wondered if he was joking, but since he still didn't get sarcasm, I soon realised that he probably did know Glasgow's bus time-table. Though I had no idea how, or why.

Luke and Rani dashed out of the room and I shook my head, in slight annoyance and slight entertainment.

"You knew what you were getting yourself into," Clyde mocked, patting me on my shoulder and walking over to the doorway, and turning back and glancing between K-9 and Mr Smith, "_And you two, play nicely." _

"_'Play nicely' instruction to human children, conduct reaction in socially compatible mode," _K-9 rambled- I had no idea what he was on about.

"_Oh, be quiet," _Mr Smith moaned.

"Have fun," I smiled, before leaving the attic and shutting the door behind me.

-X-

Twenty minutes later, we got off the bus and made our way towards the High Street, where Sarah Jane had left her car. Since most of us knew Ealing like the back of our hands (especially Luke), it didn't take long for us to find Sarah Jane's blue mini, parked next to a bike wrack and outside a corner shop, book shop, _superdrug_ and Thai restaurant.

"_There's her car... But where's Mum?" _Luke wondered aloud.

"_No signs of any aliens either," _Rani pointed out.

All of us were looking around carefully, incase we saw either Sarah Jane or aliens. We knew we couldn't miss anything. The slightest thing could give us an answer as to where Sarah Jane was and why she was lying to us. As we made our way down the street, with Clyde in front of us, we were just walking by the Thai restaurant when Clyde stopped suddenly and pushed us against the window of the book shop.

"_I did not just see that!" _Clyde exclaimed.

"See what?" I demanded.

Clyde gestured towards the glass window of the restaurant, for us to look through. Desperate to see what was going on, Luke and Rani looked quickly.

"_Careful!"_ Clyde cried.

Carefully- like Clyde had instructed- we all looked around and leaned against the window. And there, at a table in the corner of the restaurant was Sarah Jane, with a man. Since he was sitting so his back was too us, we couldn't see much. Only his greyish-brown hair and beige jacket. But it was definitely a date.

"_Oh, my god!" _both Rani and me whispered, our eyes not diverting away from Sarah Jane and the man she was with.

"_Oh, no, they're not gonna..." _Clyde began. But it was too late. Their faces met and they kissed. _"Oh, people are eating!" _

Since none of really wanted to see anymore, we turned away and began to make our way back to the bus stop. Rani was the first of us to speak.

"_Wow! Just... Wow!" _she exclaimed.

"_Nobody over twenty-two should be doing that in public," _Clyde said, looking like he'd just seen a ghost, "_Actually, at all!"_

"Oh, but it was all right to have your hands over Abbey McGuire, last week at lunch- in the school diner?" I teased.

"Yeah, well, that's different," Clyde shrugged.

I didn't ask why, since I already knew it was because Rani had been to the cinema with Brad Jones the week before that. It was obvious that Rani and Clyde liked each other, but they were good friends. That was why I didn't point it out to either of them, that the other _really_ liked them back. If they ended up together and something went wrong, then not only they're friendship would be ruined, but so would their friendship. I wanted them to get together, but if things ended badly between them, I didn't want that burden on my shoulders.

"_Shut up, Clyde!" _Rani scolded, _"Oh, that's brilliant! She's got herself a man!" _

"_What are we gonna say?" _Luke questioned.

Rani and me both exchanged a quick look. "Are you mad?!" I exclaimed.

"_We're not gonna say anything!" _Rani cried, "_She wants it kept a secret, so we never saw that and we don't know anything. Yeah?" _

Clyde nodded in agreement, but Luke shifted, unsure.

"Luke..." I warned.

"_Yeah..."_ he agreed after a few seconds, "_And we thought she was hunting aliens."_

* * *

**AN: Thanks to **_Amy Angel Allen, KBerry _**and **_ClydeandRani4ever_ **for your reviews! :D **

**Remember to leave a quick review! :D**


	16. 15 Big Mouth!

Stargazing

Chapter 15, Big Mouth!

* * *

Nearly two hours later, Clyde, Luke, Rani and me were all back in the attic, sitting around the desk. Our revision guides were out along with our exercise books, since Luke had decided to remind us that we had our first Science exam in a week. I felt like I had enough going on, but I wasn't particularly worried about my exams. Well, not the science ones. It was the English that I worried about. And History, as it turned out, Archaeologists weren't as accurate in their hypothesises as they thought.

Both Luke and me had been predicted A stars in our Science GCSEs, meaning that we were left to mentor Clyde and Rani. Luckily, I had the easier job of helping Rani, who'd been predicted an A. IT was Luke, who I felt sorry for, as he'd been stuck with Clyde, who according to the teachers, would be lucky if he struck a C. It didn't take long before Luke gave up, as Clyde would get distracted with my iPod that had some of the latest songs on it, from two thousand and thirteen.

Anyway, in the end, we'd all gotten distracted from our revision and had ended up just sitting there discussing Sarah Jane's date. Or as I preferred to call it, encounter.

"_He looked really posh. I bet he's called Henry, _or George_," _Clyde mused.

"Well, it's not like he's going to be called something modern like... Kieran or... Spike," I laughed.

"Spike? Who's called Spike?" Luke questioned.

"I don't know... Probably some celebrity's kid," Rani shrugged.

"Nah, I meant it like, he's not going to be called something old, but... whatever the word for 'not posh' is..." Clyde began.

"Chavvy," I interrupted.

"Like Brian," Clyde finished, ignoring my comment.

"That's my Grandfather's name," I pointed out," Are you calling my family chavvy?"

"I thought it was Rory?" Rani remembered.

"It is... But his Dad's called Brian, so Brian's my great-grandfather," I explained, "Only he doesn't know that he is, because he thinks I'm Amy and Rory's Goddaughter... It's complicated."

"Yeah..." Clyde agreed.

"_She's coming!" _Rani hissed, suddenly.

Immediately, we got went silent and got into our positions. Once we'd grabbed a pen and a text book each, we listened for the footsteps that Rani had heard. Sure enough, Sarah Jane was making her way up towards the attic and in a few seconds, she came in, smiling happily. Her expression was quickly wiped off clean when she saw all of us and she frowned in confusion.

"_What are you all doing up here?"_ she asked.

"VM broke," I lied quickly, holding up my left wrist, which had my Vortex Manipulator strapped to it.

Luke shot me a look of confusion that was similar Sarah Jane's and I quickly shrugged in response. I had a feeling though that she wasn't speaking to me, since even though she didn't know about Luke and me yet, she was used to me dropping in most days after school. She seemed to enjoy my company and she always asked how my Dad was, but I couldn't answer it, since I hadn't seen him for a while now, so I would answer with a shrug and say he was the same as always, because really, that was all I could see.

"_Well, the exams are coming up, so we've got to work,"_ Clyde answered Sarah Jane.

"_Luke _and Star are _helping us revise," _Rani added, gesturing to the text book in her hands, before quickly changing the subject, "_Did you have a good evening?"_

"_Nothing special," _Sarah Jane replied, carefully. We could all tell she was being careful with what she said. She looked around the attic, before noticing something that I was sure I'd taken care of. _"Why's Mr Smith still out?"_

I winced and frantically tried to sum up an explanation. "I have no idea!" I exclaimed, thoughtlessly, "Luke, why is Mr Smith still out?"

"Well, you said you'd shut him down..." Luke replied, looking slightly worried and angry.

_'Sorry' _I mouthed at him, before launching into another full-blown explanation that didn't make much sense, or explain anything. "I did shut him down, I told him to. Mr Smith, why didn't you shut down when I told you to?"

"He doesn't respond to you," Rani reminded quietly.

"Right, yes, that's why," I said, slowly and very unnaturally.

Suddenly, the map which followed the tracker flashed up onto the screen and we were thrown into panic.

"_Information: Sarah Jane's car is now parked outside the house,"_ Mr Smith explained.

"_What? Mr Smith!" _Sarah Jane cried, before turning to us with a glance that demanded an explanation.

"_Oh, hello, Sarah Jane," _Mr Smith greeted, "_I have been tracking your position _with a tracking device made by Star and _as instructed by Luke." _

"_Big mouth!" _Clyde exclaimed, standing up and pointing towards the Xylok.

"Course he is!" I scoffed, "He's never liked me and would never even say my name before."

"_K-9, what have they been doing?" _Sarah Jane asked, sharply, looking down at the metal dog.

I relaxed slightly, sure that K-9 wouldn't give us away. He wasn't as cunning as Mr Smith and would follow our orders more than the computer, anyway. However, it turned out I was wrong.

"_I have been instructed to with hold information," _K-9 replied.

"_What was your exact instruction?" _Sarah Jane continued, crossing her arms.

"_Mistress Rani and _Mistress Song _instructed me not to relay the information that you were followed to your assignation," _K-9 answered.

Furiously, both Rani and me jumped up.

"K-9!" I exclaimed.

"_The gob on you!" _Rani cried.

"_You've been spying on me?" _Sarah Jane demanded, angrily.

We all glanced nervously at each other, before Luke sighed and went over to her.

"_We were worried," _Luke protested, "_When you've kept something secret before, it's always been a disaster." _

"_Does that give you the right to pry into my private business?" _Sarah Jane scolded, before shaking her head and slightly smiling, _"Oh, I was about to tell you anyway." _

Noticing the tension fade, we went over, carefully, as if we were walking on glass.

"_So, who's the lucky fella, then?" _Clyde smirked.

Sarah Jane smiled back and gave us the sort of cheeky look, that Clyde normally gave. _"His name is Peter Dalton and yes, he is rather lucky and rather marvellous." _

"_Ooh!" _Rani and me both teased, simultaneously.

"_Where'd you meet him?" _Rani asked.

"_Oh, no, that's all. End of discussion!_" Sarah Jane declared, "_You_ three, _home. Luke, bed_."

"I can't, my VM broke," I pointed out.

"I thought that was just your excuse..." Sarah Jane frowned.

"Oh, yeah!" I grinned, "Sorry."

"No worries," Sarah Jane laughed, as I typed in the co-ordinates to my Vortex Manipulator, "Goodbye."

"See you," I waved, before disappearing back to two-thousand and nine.

* * *

**AN: Right, I'm gonna try really hard to finish this before Easter, so I can publish the 4th story after the holidays, since I'm going to be on a massive HIATUS throughout the Easter hols. There's 9 chapters left, so hopefully that'll be two updates a week! Wish me luck! :D**

**Thanks for the reviews! :D x**


	17. 16 Mystery Man

Stargazing

Chapter 16, Mystery Man

* * *

Three days later, Luke, K-9 and me were sitting in Luke's bedroom, whilst he got ready to meet Sarah Jane's boyfriend for the first time. He'd dressed pretty smart- too smart, in my opinion- and had spent most of the morning googling how to tie a tie and then the rest of it trying to tie it- even with the instructions. Then I'd continually made what Luke called 'Clyde jokes' about how he's genetically made with the IQ of ten-thousand men, meaning that there must be at least ten-thousand men on this planet who can't tie a tie. Which when you think about it, is a mix of bad luck and obviousness.

Now, however, he'd figured managed to tie a tie, but he still wasn't convinced he looked the part and was nervously tugging at his outfit.

"_I hope I look okay,"_ Luke said, after a while.

"_Okay. Adequate. But unremarkable quality," _K-9 replied.

I rolled my eyes and hopped off the bed and walked over to him. "Don't listen to K-9," I told him, smiling, "Mainly, because I'm not a hundred percent sure what he's saying, but..." I paused, holding the sides of his jacket, "You look lovely."

"Thanks," Luke nodded, before turning away and looking down.

I frowned. "Are you okay?"

"_I don't know how I'm supposed to react," _Luke shrugged, "_What am I supposed to call him? Peter? Mr Dalton? Dad?" _

I laughed slightly. "Don't call him Dad. Maybe that's a bit too soon."

"Yeah... Maybe," Luke agreed, "K-9, what do you think?"

"_Regret; I do not have the answer to these questions _either_, Master Luke," _K-9 beeped, "_Suggest you consult another human being." _

There was a sudden knock on the door and after it was pushed open slightly, Sarah Jane appeared in the doorway.

"_Come on, Luke, he'll be here any moment. Chop chop!" _she called, "And, Star..."

"I'm leaving, I'm leaving," I shrugged, putting my hands up in a joking manner, "Rani and me are hopefully gonna' have an alien free day and go shopping."

"You say that everytime you two go shopping," Sarah Jane laughed, folding her arms and leaning against the door.

"Well, in my life, it's a lot to ask," I grinned back, "Besides, in two-thousand and thirteen, they don't have _HMV!"_

"They don't have _HMV_?" Luke asked, "Really?"

"No. _Tescos_ also lie; it's a strange and pretty unproductive year to be honest," I told them, "And before you ask about paradoxes, just whatever I say, don't repeat to anyone else."

"Oh, believe my, my girl, I know the rules," Sarah Jane winked.

"It must be strange though. I mean, everyone thinks that in two-thousand and thirteen we'll all have flying cars, but you say we don't," Luke thought aloud.

"No..." I mused, "We do have blankets with sleeves though."

Sarah Jane laughed again, before gesturing her head towards the hallway. "Go on then you. I'll see you out."

"Yeah. See you K-9, see you Luke," I waved towards them, as I picked up my bag and made my way towards the front door, with Sarah Jane.

"Do you really have blankets with sleeves?" she asked, as we walked down the stairs.

"Yep," I answered.

"And what do _Tescos_ lie about?"

"Yeah, you don't want to know," I replied, awkwardly as we approached the door, "It'll just make you want to puke up everything you've ever ought from there."

"Hmm, good thing I go to the local shops then," Sarah Jane stifled a laugh, opening the front door. "See you later."

"Bye," I waved, stepping out of the front door and making my way across the doorway.

As I walked across and over to the side of the street, towards Rani's house, I stopped when something caught my eye. Through the entrance to Sarah Jane's for cars, a bright red, convertible, sports car made its way towards the spare car space in the drive way. My eyes-widened as I realised it was Peter Dalton, Sarah Jane's boyfriend driving. Though from the angle I was standing, I couldn't see his face, but from the excited grin on Sarah Jane's face, it was obviously him.

'Is that him?' I mouthed to Sarah Jane, who was still standing in the doorway, grinning widely.

Sarah Jane barely glanced in my direction as she ushered me away with her hand that wasn't waving at Peter. I rolled my eyes, before running over to the opposite side of Bannerman Road, just in time to see Rani exiting her house- after probably just seeing Peter's car make its way across the street- and Clyde making his way over past. I frowned, knowing _exactly _what he was doing here.

"_Oi! Clyde!"_ Rani hissed, just as I approached them, "_What are you doing here?" _

"_I... err... think I left my charger in the attic," _Clyde shrugged.

"_Oh, yeah?" _Rani asked, crossing her arms and raising her eyebrows.

"_All right," _Clyde sighed, giving in, "_I want a good old look at the mystery man." _

"Me too," I grinned, pressing my hands together.

"_Hold on, _you two, _so do I" _Rani exclaimed.

I turned back around towards the way I'd just came and began the way back across the road to Sarah Jane's. A post van had just driven up, as well as Peter's car, and a postman was now handing a rather large box over to Sarah Jane- who didn't look to pleased that she'd received a delivery at that particular moment. Once we'd arrived at the front of Sarah Jane's house, she was staring rather awkwardly down at the package and looked even less pleased once she realised we were on our way over. Knowing there would be no way we'd get away with this, we all half-smiled and half-smirked at her.

"_Oh, hi, Sarah Jane," _Clyde greeted, stuffing his hands in his pockets and gesturing with his head towards the car, which had now just been parked. "_Is that your new man?" _

"_What are you doing here?" _Sarah Jane demanded, frowning, "Star! I told you to..."

"Yeah, well..." I began to protest.

"And, Rani!" Sarah Jane exclaimed, angrily.

"_Um... well..." _Rani began. Suddenly, the package which Sarah Jane was holding seemed to... jump. And a sort of yelping sound came out of it.

But before any of us could respond, the man stepped out of the car and made his way over.

We all stared at him, our mouths open and eyes wide. Even though he looked about forty years older than me, I had to admit, he wasn't that bad looking. He had greying hair that had some brown streaks, either left from his natural colour or dyed and blue eyes. He was wearing a beige, expensive looking suit and a blue shirt underneath and holding a bouquet of pink flowers. By the looks of things, he was pretty well off- financially wise.

"_Hello, there!_" he greeted, to Sarah Jane, smiling broadly. He handed the flowers out to her, "_These are for you." _

"_Oh,_" Sarah Jane gasped, "_Thank you." _

"_Everything all right?" _he asked, staring around at us.

The three of us exchanged a quick glance, before an idea flashed into Rani's head. She quickly smiled and, without warning, took the package from Sarah Jane.

"_Oh, thanks for looking after that for me," _Rani said, before turning around and frowning, "_Come on, Clyde;_ Star."

Reluctantly, I rolled my eyes, before turning around and beginning to follow Rani back to her house . Three steps in, both Rani and me noticed Clyde wasn't following us. We frowned at him and he quickly glanced back at us, giving us a pleading look. Simultaneously, we shook our heads.

"_But..." _Clyde began, before turning back and looking awkwardly at Peter, "_Hello..." _

"Clyde!" I snapped, walking the three paces back, and taking a strong grip on his arm, before pulling him back towards Rani's.

Just as we were about to go inside, Rani's Mum, Gita, made her way out of the house and onto the pavement. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Rani sigh with frustration.

"_Is that Sarah's man arriving?" _Gita asked, excited.

"_Mum, have you got no shame?" _Rani hissed, gritting her teeth.

"_At least we're subtle," _Clyde agreed, before pointing to the package, "_And what is that?" _

"_How should I know?" _Rani shrugged.

"I think it's a box," I quipped.

Shaking her head at me, Rani made her way into her house. I was about to go in after her, until I realised that both Clyde and Gita had taken a few steps closer towards number thirteen, so they could get a better look. Realising that if I wasn't the only one watching, it wouldn't look so bad, I joined them. Moments later, Rani came back again, without the parcel. Obviously, she was too curious to ignore this.

"_Blimey, he's quite dishy!" _Gita chuckled, "_She's done all right for herself."_

"_Cool car..." _Clyde muttered, ironically staring in awe at the red vehicle.

Without another word, Gita gave a determined look, before quickly making her way over. I looked around at Rani, who by this point looked as if she was about to explode.

"_Mum, come back_!" Rani called, desperately.

Clyde and me exchanged a glance and he gestured for me to go over there. Knowing that Sarah Jane would just get annoyed, I shook my head and gestured for us to go into Rani's. However, instead, Clyde began his way back to Sarah Jane's.

"Clyde!" I yelled.

"_Clyde!"_ Rani growled, before throwing her hand back towards her house, gesturing for him to go inside.

He gave another sigh, but obediently, jogged over to Rani and then we went into her living room, where she'd put the package down. Once inside, I let myself fall down onto Rani's sofa, before spreading a wide grin across my face.

"So, then," I smirked, "What do we think of him?"

Clive looked around warily, for a moment before shrugging. _"Okay, he looks all right." _

"All right?!" I exclaimed, "You saw his car; he must be loaded!"

"What's that got to do with anything?" Rani frowned.

"Well, Sarah Jane earns loads," I pointed out, "He might be after her cash, or something."

Rani gave me a roll of her eyes, before dropping down on the sofa beside me. Clyde was about to join us, when the package, that was still sitting in the middle of the room, move. Again. It sort of... jumped and shook. Immediately, Rani and me jumped back up.

"_Did that just move again?" _Clyde asked, looking between us.

"Uhuh," I nodded, nervously.

"_What is it?" _Clyde questioned.

Suddenly, after another tremendous shake, a long, thin, green stem-looking limb, stuck itself out of the top of the box. We all leapt back, in shock.

"_It's alive!" _Rani cried.

"_Let's hope it's harmless," _Clive added.

"I've been hoping that for a while now," I said, just as a thousand polystyrene balls flew out into the room. Amongst the chaos of the mess, there was a green slug, about the size of a domestic cat or small dog and with two eyes on top of two stalks, sitting there. It let out a squirm, before swaying and sliding across the floor.

"_Stop!" _Rani cried out in desperation, "_Stay calm! We're going to help you!" _

As if it could understand what Rani had said- and I knew perfectly well it hadn't- it let out another squirm of what could be giggles, before skidding out of the room so fast, it was a wonder that we could even see it leave the room. None of us did anything, but follow it out of the house, running.

Outside, we could just see Luke, Sarah Jane and Peter getting into the car. And by the looks of things, Sarah Jane and Luke looked pretty desperate to get into the car. We quickly saw why, when we realised K-9 had made his way out- after probably picking up the signs of an alien being nearby- and was making his way out across the road.

The alien on the other hand, had barely stopped to get a sense of direction, before shooting off down to the end of the road.

There were a mix of cries filling the air, such as "_Alert! Alert!" ,"What's it doing?!" _and "You've got to be kidding me!" at that point, but after that- apart from K-9, who didn't exactly have the same sort of energy we had- none of us wasted our cries on shouting after it. After all, there wasn't even much point, since we were all pretty sure it couldn't hear us, or just wanted to mess us about. Either way, there was no use in it and our only chance in catching it, was to run after it.

It led us down Bannerman Road and out into Ellsworth Avenue, the adjacent street. A few cars passed us by and I didn't even want to think about what would happen if they saw us. Hopefully, they would think they were hallucinating, or had just been imagining things. Maybe they'd think we were chasing a dog, a cat, or a toddler in fancy dress down the street. As long as no one walked past, however, we'd be fine.

Our chance to catch it, finally came when it jumped into a dustbin.

"Get it!" Rani shouted, as we came to a halt.

The bin began jumping about, just like the package had a few minutes ago, and, so, Clyde jumped on top of it, hoping it- whatever it was- would begin to settle itself down soon. However, before we even had the chance to take the alien- and the dustbin- back to Sarah Jane's where we could do something about it, a woman in her late-sixties or early seventies came bustling out of the door furiously. I couldn't exactly see her face, since it had been caked in a green face mask and her hair was in rollers, but it was obvious she was angry. Very angry.

"You again!" she yelled, point violently at Clyde.

"Ah, hello, Ms Chowdhury," Clyde smiled, innocently. Rani and me looked at each other, wondering what Clyde had done to the woman. "Lovely day, isn't it? How are you?"

"Don't play smart with me, Langer boy! You're just a repeat of your Father!" she frowned, "What are you doing this time? And what on earth are you doing with my dustbin?!"

"Community service," Rani answered quickly.

"Community service?" Ms Chowdhury queried, crossing her arms.

"Yeah, we've been asked to empty dustbins. We'll bring it back later, Ms Chowdhury," Clyde reassured.

"Hmm..." the woman muttered, "What have you done this time, then?"

"I um..." Clyde began.

"He exposed himself on a bus!" I shouted quickly, not thinking at all.

Immediately, the elderly woman jumped back in haste and disgust, one of her curlers nearly falling out in the process. Both Rani and me had to bite our lips to stop us bursting out in laughter, whilst Clyde went red with embarrassment.

"You did _what?!" _she exclaimed, "Well... I... Well..."

"And we should be going," I smiled at the woman, before coming over and dragging Clyde along with the bin, "Come on, Clyde," I muttered.

Clyde didn't hesitate as I lead him away and back down to Sarah Jane's.

"Goodbye, Ms Chowdhury!" Rani called.

"Have a nice day!" I added.

"Exposed myself on a bus..." Clyde muttered, before raising his voice, "Could you not think of anything else?!"

"Well," I smirked, "I could have."

Clyde muttered something under his breath, that I couldn't make out properly, before turning around and dragging the bin across the street and back to Bannerman Road.

Once we arrived at number thirteen, Rani got the key from under the flower pot and opened the door. Clyde and me heaved the bin in, as the alien began to throw itself inside it again and Rani shut the door behind us. It took a lot of effort, but we finally managed to heave it up the stairs and into the attic.

"Call Sarah Jane," I told Rani.

"What don't you know how to deal with this? I thought you work for UNIT?" Clyde asked, whilst trying to sit on top of the bin, to keep it from escaping.

"Worked," I corrected, "They only trained me to deal with aliens that invaded Earth. That alien- whatever it is- clearly doesn't have the brains to invade a level-five planet. Probably doesn't have enough to invade a level-one. And level-one planets normally don't have any more life than a plant, or two."

"Fair enough," Clyde shrugged, before groaning as the lid of the dustbin jumped up. Quickly, he shut it back down, "_There you go, my son!" _

I looked over at Rani, who was now waiting for Sarah Jane to answer her phone. She rolled her eyes, as she waited for it to be answered.

"Mr Smith, I need you," I called to the dormant Xylok. Nothing happened. "Clyde...?" I began, gritting my teeth.

"What?... Oh, right," he nodded, "Mr Smith, I need you."

After mouthing a quick 'thank you' to Clyde (sometimes Mr Smith would refuse to come out if I was in the attic), the walls opened up, along with a few gusts of air, to reveal the Xylok.

"How can I help you, Clyde?" Mr Smith questioned.

"Open up a transmat pod," I instructed.

Again, nothing happened.

"Do as she says," Clyde told him, firmly, "Open up a transmat pod."

"Hello? Sarah Jane?" Rani said,down the phone, "_We've got it. What is it?" _

I hurried over to Rani, as she put the phone on loudspeaker, so it would be audible to the both of us.

"_Trovost Polong," _Sarah Jane informed.

"Never heard of them," I admitted, quietly.

"_They're not evil; just trouble," _Sarah Jane explained,_" I saw him on eBay, the seller had no idea what he was. It turns out, he's in his dormant cycle."_

"_And he would choose today to wake up?!" _Rani exclaimed.

"_Get Mr Smith to open up a link to Polungus and they'll transmat him home," _Sarah Jane instructed.

"_Already on it," _Rani replied, before making her way over to the other side of the room.

"_Polungus receiving now," _Mr Smith informed, "_Earth transmitting now." _

Clyde leaped off the bin and hurried over to us, just a matter of seconds before the bin and the alien disappeared, after a bright beam of blue lights.

"_Problem solved. You have fun, right?" _Rani said down the phone, before hanging up, snapping her mobile shut and then groaning. "Are we ever going to have a day without aliens?"

* * *

**AN: Yes! I am terrible! I said there'd be two-updates a week, but... Yeah, looks like that won't be happening. I'm so sorry, but I totally lost my internet connection! :(**

**Also, the whole tescos and HMV thing- I don't own either. I have no idea if HMV will shut down- I really hope they don't 'cause all my DVDs and CDs are from there and it's my favourite shop- but since this is set in June 2013, I have to be a bit of an estimater (making up words!) on what life will be like then. Sorry if I've offended either of the shops... **

**Oh, and the 'blankets with sleeves' was taken from a tweet and the exposing yourself on the bus, was taken from _Ashes to Ashes. _**

**Thanks for the reviews! If you haven't left a review yet, it's always a good time to start! :D**

**x**


	18. 17, Four Months

Amy's POV

I was in the kitchen trying to find something to cook for tea, when I heard the familiar zap come from a few metres down the hallway. Now that I was perfectly used to it, I would barely notice Star disappearing and reappearing every few hours. Before, when I was still getting used to the fact that she would travel between now and two-thousand and nine, I would jump at the first sign of the noise. I had assumed this was because the sound of the two times shortly being snapped open and shut (or however the Doctor had said the Vortex Manipulator worked) sounded slightly similar to the sound of the TARDIS materialising. But now, especially since the Doctor hadn't visited in several months, I didn't even think for a second that it would be the TARDIS.

"Star?" I called.

"Hey!" she called back, before I heard her footsteps trudge across the floorboards and into the kitchen.

I turned around from the kitchen cupboards and saw Star frowning and leaning against the doorway. Her bag was slumping down her shoulder and blazer over the straps. Her hair was a lot messier than it had been in the morning and all in all, she didn't look happy.

"Are you all right?" I asked, turning around and leaning against the kitchen side.

"Hmm," she murmured, slumping down on one of the kitchen tables. "I failed the maths test."

"Oh," was all I could say.

"Yeah. Clyde got a higher mark than me," she frowned further.

"Well," I began, sitting down in the seat next to her, "It wasn't the official paper was it?"

"No, but it may as well be," Star replied, grudgingly, "Mr Smeath said that I'll have to do the foundation paper now, instead of the higher one."

"Okay..." I said, "What's the difference?"

"It means the highest I'll be able to get is a B!" Star exclaimed, "I've been predicted A stars for Maths. Then I didn't even get a D on the mock! I only scraped an E."

"Well," I thought for a moment, wondering what to say. "Maybe you should revise more?"

"I did! Even though I've always been able to do it all- apart from factorising equations. But that was the only thing I actually got right in the test!" Star cried, "I just... I can't believe this! Everything's just... Eurgh!" Her face fell down towards the table, her light brown hair cascading over her head and shoulders. "I just hate how everything's turning out!"

I smiled sympathetically before rubbing her shoulder. "Hey," I said, "He will come back, you know."

Star looked up from the table and I noticed she was crying. "I don't care if he does, anymore," Star admitted, angrily, before lowering her voice into a weak whisper, "I just want to know why he left me."

"Star..." I sighed, "He didn't leave you. You know, he left me for eleven years, before coming back. And then took another two, before taking me away with him."

"Yeah, but that's different," Star said, flatly, "He's not your Dad. And he's not your only chance of seeing your Mother again."

"No," I shook my head, "But he is my best friend. And, he's the only chance I have of seeing my daughter."

"True," Star conceded.

"Besides, we still have each other, right?"

"What are you saying? That sounds like some quote from a cheesy, American drama," she giggled, slightly.

"It probably is," I shrugged, "And you've still got Sarah Jane, Luke, Rani and Clyde."

"And a Xylok that hates me," Star added, "Anyway, I've got to go and do some homework," she said, getting up, "See you later."

I have her a soft smile and she was about to leave the room, when suddenly an all too familiar metallic thrumming started up. It grew stronger, then faded. Then grew louder, then quieter.

Both Star and me turned around, slowly. And there it was, the TARDIS. In the middle of the kitchen.

For a second, it was a relief. I'd been secretly wondering if the reason Star had failing tests, was because the Doctor had disappeared for the past few months. Rory and me had both noticed a dramatic change in her and Rory had been wondering if she had some type of abandonment issues, or post traumatic stress disorder. I'd told him he was being an idiot and that Star was far too strong-willed for her to have any type of mental issues. But when I saw her face, I was beginning to wonder if Rory might have been right.

When the door to the TARDIS opened, the Doctor stepped out. He clearly was completely oblivious to the trouble he'd caused, as a big, innocent grin was spread across his face, whereas Star looked as if she were about to burst into tears. I looked between both of them, staring with my mouth open. I was curious as to what was going to happen next, but I most definitely did not want to find out.

"Hello!" the Doctor beamed.

"You came back..." Star whispered after a few moments of silence.

"Of course I did!" The Doctor snorted, as if the pure thought of it was ridiculous, "I always come back."

"Yeah," Star agreed, calmly. "After four months."

The Doctor frowned. "What?"

"Four, bloody months!" Star erupted.

The change in her was drastic and slightly frightening. The Doctor jumped back a little, as f he were retreating and my eyes widened. I wondered if I should do something to get her to calm down, since I was technically her guardian- well, if the Doctor kept disappearing like this, I was- but I found myself unable to do anything. Even though I only slightly agreed with her behaviour, I couldn't find it in myself to tell her otherwise.

"I..." the Doctor began to explain.

"You what?" Star cried, crossing her arms. She didn't leave him enough time to explain, but even so, I doubted she actually knew what she was going to say.

There was the sound of the front door opening from out towards the hallway.

"Hello?" I recognised the voice to be Rory's, but I didn't respond. No one did. I doubted either of them had even acknowledged him enter the house.

"Star, I'm..."

"I don't want to hear it!" Star dismissed, before racing out of the kitchen and up the stairs.

Star's POV

I hated all of it. I absolutely hated everything.

I hated it from how my life had begun, to how it had turned out. I hated how I spent my days, in a different time than I slept in. I hated how I never saw Mum, and then how Dad clearly didn't want to see me. I hated it how Luke refused to tell his Mum that we were going out, because he didn't know how she'd react. I hated it how Rani and Clyde expected me to have no problems, just because I had a mini time-machine. I hated it how I was too scared to tell Amy and Rory about how I was really feeling.

Throughout my whole life, people had been expecting me to break. Snap. Whatever they called it. They expected me to break down in tears, and throw stuff at walls. But I never did. I didn't when I lost the letter that Mum had given me when she left me on the doorstep of that care home, for several days. I didn't when I'd had five chances to being adopted and had blown all of them.

I didn't when the foster home has closed down and I'd ended up at UNIT. I didn't cry at UNIT- not when people were around, anyway. I didn't cry when one of the people I worked close with got killed, when Cyber-men came to Earth. I didn't cry when the training was as hard as hell.

And then, four people had came along. Four complete strangers. And that was when I cried. I cried so much, in the end, I didn't even know what I was crying about. I'd forgotten what I was even so upset about, and when one of the people I who I'd met, River Song, told me I was her daughter, I remembered why. And I cried even more. More than I ever had before.

But later that day, I had to say goodbye to her. And although it was the first time I saw her, it was the last she would see me. And because of that, it felt for me, too, that it would be the last time I'd ever see her. She'd said I'd see her five times more, and that they'd be soon. But that had been over a year ago. I'd written to her in the diary a hundred times, but it did nothing.

And then Dad had disappeared. When I said I wanted to stay with Amy and Rory, I meant a few days- not a few months. But it didn't matter what he thought I meant; if he'd wanted to see me, then that's what he would have done. He had a time machine for crying out loud! The only reason he could have taken too long, was if he wanted to make me realise how much it hurt to know that he didn't want me travelling with him.

The more I thought that, the more it seemed to become the truth. After all, all I ever did in the TARDIS was end up in trouble and need saving.

I wasn't sure long I was crying in my room for, since I'd broken the clock in order for me to fix the toaster, but it was about twenty minutes, or so. I heard from downstairs, but I knew they'd be downstairs talking about me. I could just about guess what they were saying, word by word, too.

Anyway, after how ever long it was, there was a quiet knock on my door. I was about to tell them to "go away", but decided that would be too immature of an answer. Whoever it was, I could tell them what I really thought. If it was Dad, I could tell him how angry I was, and if it was Amy or Rory, I could tell them it what I was so upset about- it seemed they were the only people I could really trust.

So, I got up of my bed, and opened the door.

"Star..."

"Dad," I nodded, as calmly as I could.

"I'm sorry," he told me. He did look guilty, I'd seen him look like that before.

"Just..." I struggled to finish the sentence, "Just why did you take so long to come back."

He sighed before answering. "I didn't know what you wanted."

"What do you mean?" I questioned, crossing my arms.

"When you started Park Vale, we noticed a change in you."

"We?"

"Me, Amy and Rory," he answered, "You were happier; laughed more. More... Human."

"More 'human'?" I queried.

"You seemed like you were enjoying everything so much more, you know, just... You were still you, but... Different," he explained.

"Okay..." I nodded, slightly understanding where he was coming from.

"We all thought, well... Okay, not all thought it- Amy and Rory did, actually, but they were right."

"Right about what?"

"That it was down to you having a slightly more normal life-style."

"What... Normal?" If I weren't so furious, I would have laughed. I knew exactly what Dad meant about me being happier and about that, he was right, but the reason for it, he'd gotten completely wrong. "I wasn't happy because of a more 'human' life, Dad." I told him. "I was happier because I finally had everything I wanted. A family, friends- a place where I belonged. And above all that, I was travelling through space and time. Nothing could have been better. Well, except for if I saw Mum everyday, but... What made me happy, was that I belonged. I belonged in the TARDIS."

"Ah..." Dad murmured, staring down at his feet.

"But then you left," I said, a harsh taste to my voice increasing. "And you didn't come back for four months. Four months!"

"I... I'm sorry."

"And I know you did it because you thought it was what I wanted, but..." I hesitated, "Please... Don't ever think I'm happier because my life is becoming more human. The last thing I want, is to become human. Because that's not who I am."

Dad smiled. "Well," he smirked, "Human's aren't that much fun."

"Exactly!" I said, a few tears running down my face- I wiped them away, instinctively. "And, I've been helping Sarah Jane with aliens, but that isn't the same."

"Do you want to come back with me?" he asked.

I opened my mouth to say the answer I knew I'd always say, but this time, this one time when it could have made all the difference, I said a different answer. "No... No, I can't."

This surprised and confused Dad even more than it had me. "Why not?"

"Because... I have too much going on. For a few more days, I just want to stay with Auntie Ames and Uncle Rory. I'm sorry, but... I'm still upset," I admitted, "But, come back. Soon. In like, a week or two."

"Okay," he nodded, taking ahold of my arm. I think he expected me to hug him, but I didn't. I couldn't.

"See you soon, then," I said. I wasn't sure if he was really was about to go, but I needed him to. I was trying as hard as I could to not burst out into tears, which was impossible with Dad in front of me.

"Bye," he said. He did seen kind if sad, or disappointed, but I refused to let it bother me. After all, he was going to be coming back.

Still, though, as he walked away, and back down the hallway to where the TARDIS was parked, I was left wondering what I had done.

AN: I'm really sorry about when quality of this chapter- the presentation and the writing. My Internet has stopped working on my computer, so I've had to write it his chapter on my phone. Anyway, though, I really hope you enjoyed it. Please leave a review and say what you think. :) x

PS. I will sort out the presentation and things out once the computer starts working again. Also, if I don't get my Internet fixed next week, I won't be updating until after Easter holidays , since the first week I'm doing a show and the second I'm on holiday.

X


	19. 18, The Lair of The Living Dead!

Stargazing

Chapter 18, Lair Of The Living Dead

Star's POV

The next morning, I was planning to not do anything the entire day, in a way to punish myself.

I didn't want to admit it, but I was regretting turning down the chance to go back to travelling with Dad in the TARDIS. Very badly. I'd made it clear to other people and myself that I didn't want to have a normal life and go to school, even if it included going to school in a different time to the place I slept. Of course, there were some days- normally the ones where aliens had attempted to invade Earth and I would help the gang get rid of them- where I would much prefer to sleep in a bed that wasn't in a telephone box floating through the Time Vortex, but those days were becoming rarer and rarer. When I thought about it properly, it seemed stupid that I'd actually thought that Dad wouldn't come back for me; I'd always known he would, I just didn't know how long he'd take.

But he had come back and I wanted to go with him. I'd said no on the spur of the moment- and I still had no idea why. If it was what I wanted, then what had made me say without even thinking about it?

After hours of laying awake and thinking about it, I had come to the conclusion that it was some sort of sign of rebellion, because I was angry at Dad. My anger for Dad had now gone, but turned into frustration and guilt towards myself. And that was why I was not going to leave my bedroom for the whole day.

After Dad had left, I'd left my room _once, _when Amy had called me down for dinner. Neither Amy nor Rory said anything to me whilst I we ate and I wasn't sure if that was because they were annoyed at me, or simply because they thought it would be best to leave me to my own thoughts. I wasn't down there for long anyway, so it didn't really matter how much we spoke. Apart from three boiled potatoes, I hadn't eaten anything else. I had too much to think about and wasn't particularly hungry anyway.

And, so, I stayed up in my room for the rest of the evening and after writing three pages, which I'd later ripped out, since I'd exposed my feelings _way_ too much in the entry, and fallen asleep at around eleven o'clock. I didn't really dream much and hadn't last night either, but I'd still been restless and woken up at least three times in the night. When I woke up and it was light, my clock said it was quarter past eight, which normally would be the time I would wake up.

Although I wasn't tired, I was drained from the lack of sleep and not in the mood to get up. Twenty minutes later, I wanted to get up and do something productive instead of procrastinate the entire day in a ball of guilt, regret and anger. But I didn't.

It was at half past nine, when Amy opened my door- without knocking.

"Are you planning on getting out off bed today?" she asked. She spoke in an annoyed tone and peaking through my covers, I saw that she had a sort of patronizing smile on her face.

"Nope," I murmured from underneath the sheets.

"Star, come on," Amy urged, stepping inside and swinging the door shut, "Get up."

I wasn't used to Amy being angry. At all. However, I also knew she didn't like to get angry, since she liked to think of herself as more of a friend, than a relative to me, even though she probably had more authority over me than anyone else; if I were to follow someone's instructions to orders, it was more than likely for it to be hers. Still, if she really had to, she would get furious quickly, which she blamed on being Scottish (which I still didn't understand). Either way, I knew it would not end well if we ended up in an argument- even if it was only one of us doing the arguing.

"I don't feel well," I insisted quickly, rolling over so that I was facing the other way.

"Star, don't play that card. Just..." she hesitated, and I heard her sigh. When she spoke again, she still sounded annoyed and not at all sympathetic, but more understanding. "Look, if you want to lie there in bed all day, wallowing in self-pity, then do it. Just know it's not going to do anything to help."

After she spoke, the door slammed and rolling back over, I saw that she was gone. I groaned and stretched. She was right. And I knew it.

Within five minutes, I was up and dressed in jeans and a pink and grey, long, stripy top. I pulled my hair into a pony tail, before trudging downstairs and finding Rory down there, watching day time TV- which was the worst kind of TV_. _I dropped down on the sofa next to him and he gave me a small smile. He was still dressed in his scrubs and I knew he didn't work Saturdays, so I was left to assume he'd been doing a night shift at the hospital and hadn't yet bothered to change.

"You okay?" he asked.

"Yeah," I answered, with a soft smile.

"Good," he nodded, "Amy's gone to the shops, she'll be pleased to see you up."

"Yeah... She didn't sound too pleased earlier."

"Just ignore her," Rory told me, "Don't tell her I said that. But... I think she's just a bit shocked at your decision."

"Dad told you?" I raised my eyebrows.

"Yeah- he said you were upset, and he never knows what to do when you're moody."

"I think I have a right to be moody," I frowned, jokingly, "For one point, I'm fifteen. Another point, my Dad disappeared for four months."

"I'm not saying you don't," Rory said, defensively- although he understood perfectly that I was joking, "I'm just saying that Amy doesn't want you to make the same mistakes that you did."

"I haven't," I pointed out, "I turned down travelling with Dad, she ran off with him on her wedding night."

"Exactly, she wants you go with him when you want to go with him."

"But Amy didn't make a mistake in that," I said, "She wanted to go with him. I'm pretty sure you're going to have to really want to do it to runaway in a blue box, on your wedding night."

"Okay, now you're just going off topic," Rory shook his head, whilst I smirked, "When she first wanted to go with the Doctor, she was seven, but she couldn't go. I know there are still some differences, but really, your situations are quite similar."

I thought about it for a second before replying. He was right. The only difference really, was that I knew Dad better than seven year old her did, and she couldn't go, whereas I turned down the offer. And although they were big differences, neither really counted. We wanted to get away, but we didn't- no matter whose choice it was.

"Okay," I agreed, standing up, "I'm going out."

"Where?"

"A twenty-five minute journey through the tube, to four years ago," I answered.

"Have fun," Rory said, rolling his eyes.

I grinned, in better spirits than before, going upstairs to where my Vortex Manipulator was. "See you later."

-X-

I arrived in Rani's kitchen, in two thousand and nine not long after my conversation with Rory, to find Clyde and Rani both there. Glancing up at the clock in Rani's kitchen, the time was half past ten, meaning I arrived a few minutes earlier than I meant to. Of course, it didn't really matter if I only did it once or twice. I tried to keep in accuracy with the exact seconds, so that time didn't build up on either side. A few seconds every once in a while didn't hurt, but if I did it every time I travelled, the seconds would build up so much I could miss a day.

Clyde was sitting at the table, on a laptop- I wasn't sure who belonged to- and Rani was at the counter getting two drinks of orange juice in half-pint glasses. Unlike Sarah Jane, who seemed to jump everytime I arrived in the attic like I was a ghost, neither gave a stir to my sudden arrival.

"Hi, Star," Clyde greeted, not looking away from the screen.

"Star!" Rani frowned, "You can't just keep popping up everytime you feel like it!"

"Well, what do you suggest I do?" I asked, laughing slightly.

"I'm not saying I don't want you here," Rani denied, "I'm just saying. 'Cause I'm not kidding, what would you do if my parents were here and you just zapped into the living room?!"

"I thought your Dad came up with some theory about me working for the secret service?" I questioned.

"He does. He asked me about it and everything," Rani shrugged, "Anyway, do you want a drink?"

"Please. I haven't had breakfast yet; can I have some toast or something?" I questioned, "And where's Luke today?"

"Help yourself," Rani nodded, going over to the table Clyde was sitting at, with the drinks, "And he's coming out later, I think."

"Cheers," I thanked, getting some bread out of the bread bin and putting it in the toaster.

"_What are you doing?" _Rani asked Clyde, whilst I made my way over to them.

"_Just being nosy, looking up Peter's gaffe," _Clyde answered.

"Where is it?" I asked, sitting down on the opposite side of Clyde, so I could see the screen.

"_A hundred and twenty Christ Church Walk, W four," _Clyde replied.

"_Nice place!" _Rani exclaimed.

Even I had to admit, it did look nice. I knew the street a bit, since Amy and Rory lived three streets down from it and I recognised Peter's house as one of the nicest ones in the street. It wasn't quite as big as Sarah Jane's, but it was still bigger than the average London house. The walls were white instead of brick and the drive way was large. In the picture, however, I noticed a red sign out of the corner of the picture.

"Hang on, go left," I told Clyde. Scrolling left, we saw a long wooden stick standing up in front of the drive way with a red sign stuck on top.

That's_ a for sale sign," _Clyde frowned, before zooming into the picture, "_And newspapers in the windows. It looks empty." _

"_That picture could have been taken months back," _Rani shrugged, taking a sip of her drink.

"_No, no, look, it says three weeks ago," _Clyde said, pointing to the date at the bottom of the web page.

"Maybe it's the wrong place," I suggested.

"_I'll ask Sarah Jane," _Rani told us, still acting completely care-free, unlike Clyde and me who were growing confused and concerned.

"Luke said Sarah Jane hadn't been there yet, though," I pointed out, remembering our conversation on Wednesday lunchtime, where Luke spent most of the lesson going on about how glad he was that he was getting on with Peter. It had gotten pretty annoying after a while, but none of us had told him that. I was in Clyde's History class afterwards though, and during the lesson, we'd been saying how things seemed to be moving pretty fast and Sarah Jane would soon have to tell Peter the truth.

"_Let's go around there," _Clyde said, after a few seconds of silence, where we'd exchanged a few glances.

"_Are you joking?!" _Rani cried, nearly spitting a mouth-full of her drink out.

"I'm not kidding, Clyde, that's going to far," I protested, just as I heard the toast pop up from behind me.

"_We'll just have a look," _Clyde insisted, whilst I pulled the toast out and began to eat it dry.

"_Oh, Clyde, Peter is not an alien!" _Rani scoffed. She'd said it so many times in the past week, I was beginning to wonder who she was trying to convince.

"_I know!" _Clyde replied, "_K-9 scanned him, but Sarah Jane's loaded, right? All this money from her aunt and the house, what if he wants to get his hands on it?" _

"That was what I was thinking before we saw his car," I reminded.

"Stop switching sides!" Clyde exclaimed towards me.

"I'm not; I'm on the side of logic," I explained, "Something's up with Peter, but it's not aliens and it's not money."

"Exactly!" Rani agreed, "_He's a partner in a law firm, he earns thousands. I know why you're doing this, you don't want things to change. Neither do I. But Sarah Jane's happy, isn't that important?" _

"_And I want her to say happy," _Clyde said, shutting the laptop and standing up.

"Same here," I said, "If Dad was here, he'd be investigating this and making sure he knew the truth about Peter, but he isn't, so it's up to us. You're right, Rani, this could be nothing, but it might not be. And I don't know about you guys, but I'm not about to let anything happen to Sarah Jane, so I'm going to find out the truth."

"And, so am I," Clyde nodded, getting up and picking his jacket up off the chair and putting it on, "_Come on." _

-X-

We arrived at Peter's house twenty minutes later, after getting the bus, to the town centre and walking the rest of the way. Just as the picture on the computer had looked, there was a for sale sign at the front and the windows had been blanketed in layers of newspapers. The front garden had clearly once been cared for greatly, but was now becoming overgrown with weeds and long grass. It obviously looked nothing like it once had- or that it will.

"This place is a mess," Rani observed.

"How are we going to get in?" Clyde asked.

"No idea," I replied, "Times like this, I wish I had a sonic mascara or something."

"Not lipstick?" Rani queried.

"Nah, too tacky," I smirked.

"Just don't say that to Sarah Jane," Clyde advised, "Anyway, why don't we try the window?"

"They're closed," I pointed out, "And we can't break them; someone might hear."

"We'll try the back windows then," Clyde said, as if he thought we were stupid.

"Clyde, how many times have you done this before," I frowned.

"None, my Mum just likes soaps and crime shows," Clyde replied, casually, before pulling me and Rani around the edge of the house and towards the gate to the garden.

All around the back, the windows were still caked in newspapers and neither Rani nor me could see a way in. On the other hand, Clyde could. Without warning, he smashed the top window with his fist. Glass shattered either side and shards of rigid glass stuck out at the bottom of the window. A few of the glass splinters made the way into his hand, but no serious damage was done- except for the broken window, of course.

"You idiot!" Rani exclaimed, "And how are we supposed to fit through there, anyway?!"

Clyde rolled his eyes, reaching into the window and to the handle on the window beneath the one he'd smashed, and pulled it open. The open gap was small, but if we went through one at a time, it would eventually work.

"I'll go first," Clyde said, before stepping through the window, ducking down, and then sliding through, "Who's next?"

"I'll go," I said, as Clyde opened up the window further, so I would be able to fit in. I squeezed through the gap and slid in, landing on the floor, with my hands, "Rani," I gestured for her to follow after us, once I was flew.

For a second, she hesitated and looked around, even though there was no one there, or any other way in. Then, she sighed and reached in through the window. Both Clyde and me took one of her hands, to help her in, whilst she heaved herself in.

Once we were all finally inside, we looked around. It was empty. There was no furniture, apart from several boxes wrapped in bubble wrap and even the curtains had been taken down. To our left, we could see the kitchen, and the fridge, dishwasher and washing machine had all been removed. Across from that, were the banisters which were also wrapped in bubble wrap and along the walls were picture-hooks where frames had once hung.

"_What?" _Clyde murmured, "_This place is creepy. It's freezing." _

"_We got the right address, didn't we?" _Rani checked.

"_Of course we did," _Clyde scoffed, as we walked through and down by the front room, which was completely bare. Even the carpet had been ripped up.

"Seriously, though," I began, "I ended up in a room where I had to face my three biggest fears and this is more creepy than that."

"_Look at this place," _Clyde muttered, "_It's like the lair of the living dead!"_

Rani frowned and shook her head, leaning against the wall. _"There could be a million reasons for this," _Rani pointed out.

"Like what?" I questioned.

"_I dunno," Rani replied, "He's got everything in storage." _

"_Oh, yeah?" _Clyde said, leading us around to the front door, where there sat a mountain of letters piled on top of each other.

Going over to them, I found that they came up to my knees. Picking one up, I looked at the address. "Yeah, right place," I said, "It's got his name on and everything. What do they look like; bills?"

"Subscriptions, probably," Rani frowned, "You know, he's obviously not staying here anymore- he just hasn't had time to let them know he's moved."

"How many things does a guy subscribe to?" Clyde pointed out, before reaching over to the bottom of the letters and pulling one from the bottom out. Ripping the envelope open and taking out a letter he read it, before handing it to Rani, "Look at this then."

"What?" Rani asked, scanning the letter, "It's just an electricity bill."

"No, look at the date at the top," Clyde told her, "February was 4 and a half months ago."

"February?!" I exclaimed, "What? Give it here."

Snatching the letter of Rani, I read it carefully. At the top of the letter, the date read _**04/02/09. **_

"This doesn't make sense- at all," I said, "I mean, he obviously used to live here... But why would he give Sarah Jane his old address?"

"Maybe he's had to move out," Rani shrugged, "Perhaps he's just ashamed of it, or something. Like he didn't have enough money to keep up with the bills. You said it yourself earlier, Sarah Jane's loaded. Maybe he just doesn't want to take her cash- maybe he just doesn't want her thinking that."

"But then he's still being charged for electricity and water and that," Clyde pointed out.

"Well, I dunno then!" Rani cried, "But Peter's not about to... Try and take over the Earth, or... Try and take Sarah Jane's house, or anything like that. There's got to be a reasonable excuse for this."

"I can think of about ten excuses for this, Rani," I told her, "None of them are reasonable."

"Well, then," Clyde said, "I guess it's our job to find out what."

* * *

**AN: Right, yes! Hello! I'm back! I'm so sorry but my internet didn't exist for three weeks (let's blame The Bells of St. John ep, shall we :P) so I couldn't update. :( Good news, I may not have had the internet, but I still had a computer, meaning that I've written two more chapters of this! :D I'm hoping we'll get onto the next story soon. **

**Also, I have a massive theory that Clara's River and the Doctor's daughter... But then my friend's keep reminding me that she kissed him in The Snowmen so I get all disgusted and confused and I'm not sure what's going on with my mind. :P**

**Reviews are great! Keep 'em coming, lovelies! x**


	20. 19, Smith and Song

Stargazing

Chapter 19, Smith and Song

Star's POV

"What are we going to do first then?" Rani asked, as we walked down the street leading back up to Bannerman Road.

"We need to tell Sarah Jane," Clyde said.

"What?!" I exclaimed, "No, we can't do that!"

"Well, what else can we do?" Clyde frowned, "We've been to his house and no one's been living there since at least February- no one's even been there since February."

"I agree with Clyde," Rani admitted, "I mean, what else can we do? We're not exactly detectives are we?"

I sighed, wondering whether to protest against their decision. It hadn't taken me long to notice that it was harder to change Clyde's mind than it was Dad's, and if Sarah Jane wasn't with us, it would always end up with him in charge. Of course, before it had normally been what film to watch at the cinema (even when I said I'd seen the movie and it was terrible- as would be the sequels) or where to go for lunch when the four of us spent the day in town.

It was obvious Sarah Jane would lose it if we told her we had been to Peter's house, but that wasn't the problem. We needed to know more about Peter before we told her. It was way more than clear that he was lying about something, but we needed to know what. If Sarah Jane knew, she'd somehow stop us from finding out anything else. We needed more than evidence that something was up; we needed the answer and proof to back it up. We had neither.

However, Clyde had made his mind up. And if Rani agreed with him, then there really was no chance of us finding out more before telling Sarah Jane.

"Fine," I sighed, "If you say so."

Clyde gave his annoying, triumphant grin, making me grit my teeth further. Some days he really was hard to be around- I really had no idea how Luke had survived being best friends with him for the past couple of years.

"Come on, let's go," he said, making his way across the other side of the road.

"What? Now?" I asked, angrily, "Not yet!... Oh, Clyde!"

"Come on!" Clyde called, running ahead of us, towards number thirteen.

"You are kidding me!" I snapped, glancing at Rani.

"He's right; we need to tell her," Rani told me.

"Fine," I growled.

Rani shook her head and rolled her eyes, before grabbing my arm and dragging me down the street, after Clyde. We arrived at number thirteen and with no one answering the door, we let ourselves in- as we always did- and ran upstairs to the attic. Bursting in through the door, we found Mr Smith open and in the centre of the room, Sarah Jane and Luke hugging.

"_Hey, I've been telling Luke. I've got some big news! Wonderful news!_" Sarah Jane exclaimed happily, pulling away from Luke, _"Peter and I, we're getting married."_

We froze. All three of us. For several seconds, none of us moved at all, we just stared in utter disbelief. He'd gotten to us before we could- the realisation hit us hard. I tried to say something, but I couldn't. All that was running through my mind were several swear words, which although were (in my mind) pretty appropriate for the situation, not the best thing to say in front of Sarah Jane.

Clyde was the first one of us to say something, and even then he stuttered.

"_What?" _

"_Well, you don't have to look so pleased," _Sarah Jane frowned, crossing her arms, "_I mean, I know it's a bit of a shock, but Peter's got it all planned."_

"You are kidding me," I murmured.

"_I bet he has," _Rani scoffed.

"_What do you mean?" _Sarah Jane demanded.

"Look," I began, "We don't know how to tell you this, but..."

"_Sarah Jane, we went around to Peter's house," _Rani explained.

"_You did what?!" _Luke cried, stepping forward to us.

"_There's nothing there," _Clyde went on, "_It's empty." _

"_What?" _Sarah Jane queried, her face drooping, "_What do you mean?"_

"No one's been there in at least four months, Sarah Jane," I added, slowly, "I'm sorry."

Sarah Jane chuckled slightly, turning on her heels and shaking her head. "There's no need to apologise, Star," she smiled, "_I know it's empty. He doesn't really live there. His firm got him a flat in London near the office." _

"_And you've been there?" _Clyde asked.

"_Plenty of times," _Sarah Jane beamed.

"But, that doesn't explain the letters," I pointed out, "One of his bills was dated back to February. Wouldn't he let the company know he'd moved. There were more bills, too, more recent ones. No one wants to be charged for a house they're not even living in for four months- at the least!"

"Honestly, you went through his mail, too," Sarah Jane tusked, "Then again, he was saying that he seemed to be losing a lot of money and he wasn't sure where it was going... At least that explains it. He must have just forgotten to let them know his change of address," she shrugged, "_Oh, I should be angry with you, breaking in there. Oh... It's what I'd do, isn't it? Oh, look at you; I've made you all so suspicious. But this is a happy thing, and I want you all to be a part of it. It isn't the end of the world. So thanks, but there's no need to sneak around or worry about anything." _

I frowned- I wasn't buying any of this. None of it made sense. And we'd broken into someone's house... Yet Sarah Jane was acted so casual. Like we'd just been shopping and not smashed a window to get into her boyfriend's 'house'.

However, Rani seemed to be convinced.

"_So, when's the wedding?_" she asked, beginning to smile.

"_End of next week?! _Clyde exclaimed.

"_Well, at my age, why wait?" _Sarah Jane replied.

"_You what? That's mad!" _Clyde shouted.

"That's just over a week," I pointed out, "My parents had more time than that to plan- and they got married on top of a pyramid, to stop Mum killing Dad!"

"Parents, eh?" Sarah Jane winked.

"Well, no, that wasn't figurative or a metaphor... That actually is how they got married," I replied, "But... Sarah Jane, have you thought this through?"

"Oh, I didn't need to think about it!" she grinned, "_Peter had it all on standby, a nice hotel in the country. You're all invite, and you," _she turned towards Luke, "_Luke, you can give me away." _

"_Do I have to do a speech?" _Luke asked.

"_I will help, Master Luke," _K-9, who I hadn't noticed was in the room, spoke up.

"_It'll be full of robot jokes, will it?" _Rani teased.

"_Don't you think this is moving a bit fast?" _Clyde asked, a lot calmer than the others were acting. I was glad that we both agreed that something was seriously wrong.

"Yeah," I agreed, "And don't you think it's a bit creepy he had it all on standby?"

"Will you two stop worrying about this," Sarah Jane shook her head, "It's me who should be worrying; _I've got so much to arrange, a lot to change..." _

"_Sarah Jane," _Mr Smith suddenly spoke aloud. Everyone turned to look at him, "Anomaly_detected." _

"_That reminds me," _Sarah Jane smiled, innocently, walking over to the other side of the attic, towards a large lever on the side of the wall, that I doubt none of us had ever noticed before,_ and taking hold of it, "First big change. Mr Smith, commence deactivation programme." _

"What?" I muttered, alarmed.

"_But Sarah Jane, I have detected an impulse registering..." _the Xylok tried to explain.

"_Initiate total deactivation programme, Mr Smith!" _Sarah Jane harshly instructed, forcing the lever down, "_Protocol five!" _

"_Complying... Good..." _his voice droned out as he closed and shut himself away into the wall, like someone being drowned in water.

"_No! Sarah Jane!" _Clyde snapped, "_He was trying to tell us something!" _

"_The world can look after itself," _Sarah Jane shrugged, "_I'm bust with something normal for a change, and I don't want anything, any of this..." _she paused, looking around the attic, "_Getting in the way." _

Clyde and me looked at each other, furrowing our eyebrows and shaking our heads. Rani, Luke and Sarah Jane seemed to be all caught up in it all. Sarah Jane was acting completely out of character and Luke, since he was her son, was going along with what she said. I knew Luke well; he did what his Mum said. It kind of annoyed me that he was such a 'Mummy's boy' in more than a few ways. But I supposed that I sort of was, too- well, I barely saw her, but I missed her desperately and I'd only met her once. For Rani however, it was slightly less understandable. Other than Luke, she was closer to Sarah Jane than the rest of us, but she still could usually tell if something was wrong. Sometimes, she'd just need a bit of convincing.

Luke stepped forward towards Sarah Jane. "_You haven't told Peter, about our thing, what we do?" _he questioned.

"_Why should I?" _Sarah Jane shrugged, "_Perhaps I never will, perhaps that's the solution." _

"_I don't like this," _Clyde announced.

"Me neither," I shook my head.

"_I know what will stop you _two _worrying," _Sarah Jane grinned, _"Clyde, you can dog-sit for me, you can look after K-9." _

Clyde looked up at her. _"What? Really? What do I say to my Mum?" _

"_Oh, come on, Clyde Langer, when have you ever been short of excuses?"_ Sarah Jane laughed, before turning towards me and taking her sonic lipstick out of her pocket, and taking her watch off, _"_And Star, you can have my duty from now on."

"What?" I muttered, nervously taking the watch and lipstick from her, "No... Sarah Jane..."

"Oh, come on, who better to give it to than the Doctor's daughter," she smiled, taking hold of my shoulders, "You're good and after all, Earth can't look after itself forever."

"True," I muttered, "Thanks."

"_Oh, and _both of you girls, _keep Saturday free; dress shopping!" _Sarah Jane beamed, pulling Rani closer with one hand and me with the other, _"You're_ both_ going to make lovely bridesmaid_s."

"_You're on!" _Rani smiled, "_And there's that wedding fair." _

"_I know! And your Mum can do the flowers- before she asks," _Sarah Jane laughed, "Star? Come on, are you in?"

I thought a lot through in two seconds. Firstly, I knew I didn't want to be a bridesmaid- at all! But something was going on. And the more things I had to do with the wedding, the more chance I had of finding out the truth and what was going on.

"Okay, fine," I gave in, "But I'm _not _wearing pink!"

"That's fine," Sarah Jane chuckled, hugging Rani and me in turn, "Right, come on, everybody out. Things to do! Come on."

Clapping her hands, we headed for the door. Clyde called K-9 after them and I debated whether to wait and speak to Sarah Jane or not and ask her what all this was about. But before I could, Luke caught me by my arm.

"Hey, we haven't spoken properly today," he whispered in my ear, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," I lied, quietly, tucking my hair around my shoulder, "You?"

"Yeah," he smiled, "I'm dead-excited, aren't you?"

"Of course," I lied further, "And um... About the talking thing," I paused taking my phone out of my pocket and rolling up my sleeve, revealing my VM. I set the co-ordinates back to Amy and Rory's house, but didn't press the button that took me to my destination. With the sonic lipstick, I aimed it at my phone and the VM. I wasn't a hundred percent sure whether it would work or not, but I was hoping it would connect the time between my phone, so I'd be able to text and call him and the others. "This should work."

"Text me when you get back," Luke told me, understanding what I was doing. "And, I was thinking... Tomorrow. You and me. We don't have to do anything special, just... Hang." He said it as a question.

"You getting dating tips from Clyde now?" I asked.

"Who's getting dating tips from Clyde?" Sarah Jane queried, walking down the stairs to the hallway.

"Err..." Me and Luke looked at each awkwardly, before I came up with an explanation, "Luke. He asked if I wanted to meet up with him tomorrow, since we don't see each other much. Just as friends. I was just joking."

"Ah," she smiled, "Anyway, Star, do you think you'll be seeing your Father before the wedding?"

"Well..." I thought back to last night, "Probably not. You see, he... He came back. Last night, he err... came back. I kicked off. Told him to leave. I don't know when he'll come back."

"Oh," she replied, "Well... If you do see him, tell him to come."

"Even if I don't he will," I smirked, "Time travel. Anyway, I need to go."

"See you then," Sarah Jane said.

"Yep, see you," I said, putting my hand on the button that took me back to Amy and Rory's. "I'll text you, Luke."

Then, before anyone could reply or respond, I pushed my hand flat on the button and disappeared back to my time.

-X-

I'd spent the evening scribbling in my diary. It had been a while since I'd written in it. I'd normally write about what had happened with Sarah Jane, Luke, Clyde and Rani and any aliens that had _tried _to end the world. But nothing had happened for a while, so I'd had nothing to write about. But now Dad had come back and I'd sent him away again and something was wrong with Sarah Jane and her wedding, I felt like I needed to speak to Mum. Of course, I couldn't, but the closest I could get was writing in the diary. Even though I didn't get anything back from her, it was the best I could get.

Once I'd written in the diary, I'd picked up my phone and sent Luke a text.

**So, tomorrow? Got any ideas of what we can do? X**

**I was thinking we could just do whatever we feel like tomorrow? How'd that sound? X**

**Good. Sorry we didn't get to see each other today. X**

**Don't worry about it. Why'd you go round Peter's house, anyway? **

**Something's up with this whole thing. The wedding and all that. X**

**What do you mean? Peter isn't an alien. X**

**We know that. We just know something is. There was a for sale sign at the front of his house on google, so we went to check it out. X**

**Why were you googling his house? X**

**I wasn't. It was Clyde. Don't blame him, he's just looking out for Sarah Jane. X**

**Yeah, I guess you're right. But don't. Nothing's up- it's just a big change. Besides, you've got the lipstick and watch. We can defend Earth, if Mum wants to settle down. In all fairness, she deserves it. X**

**Yeah, she does. And, yeah. Smith and Song. That actually sounds pretty cool. X**

**Haha! Anyway, what was that about your Dad coming back? X**

I wrote an entire paragraph in response, but when I'd finished it, I couldn't send it. I deleted the entire reply, then started it again.

**Never mind. I don't want to talk about it. Maybe tomorrow. I'm going to bed now, but I'll be around at ten? X**

**Sounds great. Goodnight. X**

**'Night. X**

* * *

**AN: Hello! And would ya' look at that! A fast update? Yep, I'm amazed too... :P**

**A lovely, big thank you goes out to The REckless Loser and Amy Angel Allen for reviewing! :D Also, a very special BIG thank you goes to Invisibleblade for reviewing the earlier chapters! :D xxx**

**You know the drill; review! :) xx**


	21. 20, Wedding Fever

Stargazing

Chapter 20, Wedding Fever

Star's POV

"But it looks so much nicer if you're both wearing the same colour!"

I frowned and crossed my arms, only feeling a tiny bit selfish. Something was telling me that I should give in and wear the dress that Sarah Jane wanted me to, but something else was telling me that something would go very wrong today, and she'd end up even more disappointed later. After all, Sarah Jane had promised I wouldn't have to wear pink. She'd obviously just said that to convince me to be a bridesmaid, since she knew I thought something would go wrong, even though I'd said I was supporting her. It was kind of ironic that, really. I mean, if I didn't think that anything awful was going to happen today, I'd happily go along with it all and wear whatever dress she wanted me to.

"Sarah Jane, you said that I could wear whatever colour I wanted as long as it's the same style as Rani's!" I protested.

"Well..." Sarah Jane hesitated, "Fine. I suppose I shouldn't care about what colour the bridesmaid's dresses are."

"Of course not," Rani reassured, coming up behind her and putting her hand on her shoulder, "This is the most important day of your life- all you need to worry about is you and Peter."

"Cheers, Rani," I scoffed, "You have now officially convinced me to _never _wed."

"Yeah, well, who sees you as the wedding type, anyway," Rani smirked.

I laughed, pretending to throw my hairbrush- which half the time was no use at all- towards her. She laughed as well, pretending to dodge an imaginary hairbrush.

"You two, stop it! Star, do something useful with that hairbrush and actually brush your hair with it!" Sarah Jane scolded, stressfully.

"I have brushed my hair!" I exclaimed, pulling a few strands of my light brown hair in front of my face, pulling it out of its natural frizz.

"Straighten it then," Sarah Jane shrugged, turning around to her mirror and beginning to apply blusher.

"When did you last care what we looked like," I muttered, walking over from the window to the side Rani was at and picking up the hair straighteners and hairspray, before going back to the window and plugging the socket in there.

Even though the hall that Peter had hired for the wedding ceremony was only twenty-five minutes away from Sarah Jane's house, Rani, Sarah Jane and me had stayed in a hotel the previous night (my first overnight stay in two-thousand and nine). It wasn't exactly a five-star hotel, or a posh hotel, to be honest. Really, it was no more than one up from a _Premier Inn. _However, it would have been quite fun if Sarah Jane hadn't have been so stressed and worried. Luckily, Luke had been staying at Clyde's, so she only had the wedding to fret about. Secretly, I'd been hoping for her to get cold feet and had even asked the question out-right, but the only reply I got was "I just don't want anything to go wrong tomorrow."

Once we'd woken up, Sarah Jane made us eat breakfast before we showered, which frustrated the both of us. She rang Luke at seven to check he knew what to do, even though she'd gone through the plan everyday this week and he had a memory which meant he couldn't forget anything. After that, we washed and then began to get ready.

Sarah Jane had never been the type to care about her appearance and recently, neither had I, but she'd spent about forty-five tying her hair up into a bun, undoing it, then putting her hair back up and repeating it, until Rani did it successfully, for her. Then, she'd started on her make-up, which was mostly neutral, apart from a dark pink lipgloss, and she looked fine. But, despite how much Rani and me told her that, she still kept on changing the colour of her eye-shadow or lipgloss, before changing it back to the original.

Rani was wearing the least amount of make-up out of the three of us, with a couple of coats of mascara and powdered foundation. It was no more than she usually wore, but she was the prettiest one out of all of us, anyway, so it didn't exactly matter. Her black hair was mostly straight, apart from two locks at the front, where she'd curled them and stuck a third of the strands up, with pins. Her dress was like mine, knee-length, short-sleeved, with wavy and hems, only bright pink. Which I would not be seen dead in.

Instead, I'd picked a green dress. But, apart from the colour, they were every bit identical. The only make-up I'd put on that Rani hadn't, was brown eye-shadow and blush, because apparently, I was too pale. I was going to put on some lipstick on, but then I nearly soniced myself with the sonic lipstick Sarah Jane had given to me the week before. Luckily, nothing had happened, but since it worked on reading your thoughts to do whatever you wanted it to, it would probably read my thoughts about preferring death, than dressing up for the wedding. And, well, I didn't exactly want to end up lying on the floor, dead, in a hotel room.

"God, I've changed," I muttered, after burning my scalp for possibly the seventh time with the straighteners.

"What do you mean?" Rani asked, looking up at me, from where she was sitting on her bed; she was the first one of us to be ready.

"Just over a year ago, I didn't know Mum and Dad," I replied, "And, back then, I straightened my hair everyday and wore more make-up than clothes."

Rani laughed. "I can't imagine you like that."

"And I've only known you seven months," I pointed out, "I was blonde, too."

"No way!" Rani cried, disbelievingly.

"Yeah. I only dyed it back to my natural colour a week before I joined Park Vale," I told her, "I hated it then, but, now... I love it like this."

"Yeah, I can't imagine you as a blonde," Rani giggled.

"Me neither," I smiled, "I thought it looked nice, but now I look back and think I must have looked horrible."

"You really have changed," Rani smirked.

"Well," I began, "I suppose a lot has changed."

"Will you two stop chattering and get ready! I'm getting married in seventy-five minutes," Sarah Jane snapped, suddenly.

Warily, Rani and me glanced at each other. Looking at my phone to double check the time, I quietly and unnecessarily corrected her. "Seventy-three minutes."

"Look, the car will be here in twenty-five minutes..."

"Twenty-three," I muttered.

"Don't you start!" Sarah Jane shook her head, "I need to get changed, quickly. Are you two ready?"

"Yes," we both answered, as I put the straighteners down, staring at my brown hair, lying loosely around my head.

"Good," she said, picking up the bag with the dress in, "I'll be as quick as I can."

Rather to rashly, Sarah Jane made her way into the bathroom, slamming the door behind her.

"She doesn't need to get changed; she's already changed," I murmured, turning around on the chair and facing Rani.

"What do you mean?" Rani frowned.

"She's all 'wedding this, wedding that' 'wear this dress, you must wear pink'!" I sighed, "It's like... Like something's taken over her, or something."

"She's just got a bit of wedding fever, that's all," Rani shook her head, "Can you blame her? I mean, she's never had a proper relationship before. She probably never thought this would happen."

"Which is exactly why we need to keep a look out today. Anything could go wrong," I warned.

"Oh, no..." Rani frowned again, but further, "No. You are not going to do anything to spoil today."

"I won't," I told her, honestly, "I'm going to stop it from being ruined."

Suddenly, my phone beeped. I looked over to the dresser and picked it up, seeing I had a message from Clyde.

_**K-9's in place. Don't forget the watch and lipstick.**_

Quickly, I sent a message back.

_**Good. Watch is on my wrist and lipsticks in my shoe. **_

_**Why the hell is it in your shoe?**_

_**Don't have a bag.**_

"Who are you texting?" Rani questioned from the bed.

"Err... Luke," I replied, putting the phone down.

"What you talking about?" she asked.

"Well," I lowered my voice, so Sarah Jane didn't hear, "We are going out. We do like to talk when we can."

"I can't believe that you two still haven't told Sarah Jane," Rani shook her head, "Seriously, she'll find out somehow, and then she'll be really upset that you didn't tell her."

"It's for us to decide!" I chastised, "Neither of us have ever been in a relationship before. Besides, we're going to tell her after the honeymoon."

Rani let out a small chuckle.

"What?" I asked.

"If someone just listened into the past few sentences between us, it would probably sound like you and Luke were running off to get married and still hadn't told his Mum," Rani continued to laugh, "You did mean Sarah Jane and Peter's honeymoon didn't you?"

"If Sarah Jane would not tell me off for messing up your hair or dress, I would have just thrown a pillow at your head," I told her, "I only just said, I've been convinced to never marry. And I never will. Seriously, can you imagine me as a housewife?"

"So you never want to settle down?" Rani questioned, "Go to University? Get a good job? Get married? Have kids?"

"Nope. Well, a job, yes," I shrugged, "With my background, any service would accept me in a heartbeat. UNIT wouldn't, but I don't particularly want to go back to them. There are loads of them though. The Government has one- I could work for them."

"Really?" Rani's eyes-widened, "So, you'll just keep... Going with aliens?"

"Rani, you've seen a lot," I told her, firmly, "But, I've seen more. And the things out there... I haven't even seen a fraction of it, but I still feel like I've seen everything. Suns, moons, stars, planets, life, death, joy, sorrow... You know, there's more out there than the Universe. And, I'm going to see it all. I'm not going to sit around a house, in one house, in one street, in one town or city, in one country, in one planet, in one galaxy, in this Universe. I want to go to the furthest corners of space... Learn every language there is out there... Visit all the planets and meet the different species, because... Because... Because I can. And because I've seen horrible things. Things that can only be replaced by good things." I shook my head, "God, I sound like my Dad. Besides, can you imagine me with a kid?"

"You helped me babysit my little cousin when it was the Easter holidays," Rani pointed out, "He loved you more than me."

"Yeah, well, I bribed him with chocolate to get him to shut up," I shrugged, "But, seriously, if Mum hadn't have left me on Earth, what would I be like? Dead, or a fifteen year old murderer slash psychopath?"

"But, your Mum's in prison," Rani pointed out.

"And I'll be travelling through the stars," I told her, with a smile, "But don't worry. I'll always come and visit. And if you have kids, then I can be the super cool and fun auntie."

"Yeah, who bribes them with chocolate," Rani laughed.

"Hey, it worked!" I pointed out, giggling as well.

"Girls, the car will arrive any minute and I'm not ready yet!" Sarah Jane called from the bathroom, "Can you go and tell it to wait for me? I shan't be long. No more than ninety seconds- but if we're not there to meet it, it'll just go."

"No problem, Sarah Jane," Rani called back, as we got up and made our way out of the hotel room.

"I swear," I said, as we made our way down the stairs to the ground floor of the hotel, "This will be the last wedding you see me at."

* * *

**AN: Okay, so this chapter is slightly off topic, but _Amy Angel Allen _wanted some sort of friendship stuff between Rani and Star at one point and this was the easiest place to fit it in. She also wanted some sort of communication to show the friendship between Clyde, which was why there was the texts. Sorry if it was drabbly/boring/ off-topic.**

**Also, _(SPOILERS!) _this kinda ties in with the next story, so there may be some references to this chapter in the sequel.**

**Reviews very much appreciated! :D x**


	22. 21, Stop This Wedding Now!

Stargazing

Chapter 21, Stop This Wedding Now!

Star's POV

I'd never actually been to a wedding before and I found myself only realising that as we sat in the car, on our way to the hall for Sarah Jane's wedding. To be truthful, I was finding it hard to believe this was happening. Not the marriage, of course. But the fact that Sarah Jane was going through with this after everything that was clear evidence that something was very wrong. No matter who I was marrying or how much I loved them, I wouldn't marry them if something was obviously wrong. For god's sake, half the time she acted like she was being hypnotised, or something!

The car ride wasn't that long, but the dress material was uncomfortable and in the heat of the car, from being squashed between both Sarah Jane and Rani, I was beginning to grow irritable and nauseous. The driver was way too cautious and everytime a speed bump came up, he slowed the car down so much and so suddenly, the car may as well have stopped completely. As it jerked the three of us pulsed forward and in an attempt to stop it, I'd leant back in the car and held myself in a tight position, to try and brace the sickening movements.

I'd asked Sarah Jane to open the windows, but she'd refused, saying that she didn't want the wind to ruin her hair or the dress. I nearly replied saying that we would have to get out of the car to get to the hall, but realised it was pointless. Besides, something was going to go wrong at some point. She would be heartbroken when the truth- whatever it was- came out. I may as well let her have her happiness while it could last.

I could see why she didn't want to ruin her dress though; it was lovely. Long, white and flowing. Not over the top and poofy, like the one Rani had suggested she wear. It worked perfectly. I had to admit it, she did look elegant. Though she had been struggling to walk in heels.

When the car finally stopped, the cool, early Summer breeze washed into the car, refreshingly. The Chauffeur opened the door to Sarah Jane's side first and she eagerly got out. Deciding to get out the same side as Rani, so I had a slightly longer time to recover from the heat of the car, before standing up in the mild outdoors, I waited. Luckily, the five seconds between the doors being opened made the difference and as I clambered out of the car, the air took away the remainders of the dizziness.

Behind the car, stood Luke, in a tuxedo. I smiled at him and found it hard not to laugh at him in the suit, even though I saw him in school uniform half the time. I guess I was even more used to seeing him in a T-shirt and jeans. He smiled. Glancing between the three of us, he looked utterly gobsmacked and I struggled even harder not to laugh.

"Wow..." he said, to Rani and me, "_You look... Good." _

"_I look good?" _Rani queried, smirking.

"Yeah, c'mon Luke, Clyde could give us a better compliment," I teased.

"_You look amazing," _Luke corrected himself, _"_All three _of you." _

Rani and Sarah Jane winked at each other, whilst I continued to stare at Luke. I didn't want to admit it, but I _did _feel slightly undermined not getting a separate compliment- especially since we were together. Even though he hadn't told Sarah Jane yet, it still would have been nice for him to acknowledge me _slightly _more than Rani and his Mum.

Luckily, he realised eventually and mouthed what looked like 'gorgeous' to me, before walking over to Sarah Jane and linking arms with her, so he could give her away. Making our way over to the entrance of the hall, Rani handed me the bouquet of white flowers and gave me an excited smile, before stepping into the hall, right behind Luke and Sarah Jane.

Ignoring the aching lump in my foot, where the lipstick was, I put a smile on my face- like Sarah Jane had told Rani and me to- and made my way down to the aisle. The music began and with a nervous breath from all four of us, everyone, which really wasn't that many, turned around to look at us. Like a movie premier, the carpet was red and as we walked down, I noted all the smiling faces and even spotted Gita crying! At the top of the aisle, stood the Reverend and Peter, who was also in a tuxedo similar to Luke's. Smiling.

I could feel it. Something was about to go wrong. Something was about to go terribly wrong. It wasn't just a feeling, something was telling me. There was something in my mind telling me things were about to turn bad.

As we approached the end of the aisle, I felt a sharp sting in my head. I flinched and I felt my body jump as it stabbed away at my frontal lobe. Wincing, I tried to ignore it and carry on towards the short distance to the altar. Though only a few feet, it seemed like a mile. The throbbing in my foot and head made everything seem impossible. Yet, I managed to power through it.

Once Sarah Jane was at the aisle, Luke sat down and I stumbled to the seat next to him. Rani, like we were supposed to do, stood by Sarah Jane's side and when she realised I wasn't staying by the bride's side like we were supposed to, she gave me a wary glare. Looking up, from where my hand was closely pressed to my painful forehead, her glare turned to a look of concern and she put her hand up to say that she'd come towards me when she could. Luke, also noticing that something's wrong, turned towards me, putting his hand on my shoulder.

"Star, what's wrong?" he whispered.

"I can't... I can't," I gasped, my breaths becoming rapid, "I'm fine. Wait until the ceremony's over."

"Are you sure?" Luke asked, worriedly, rubbing my arm.

"We have no choice," I breathed.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Clyde, who was sitting the other side of Luke, lift up a tablecloth off from the array of tables, lining the walls. The silhouette of K-9 showed up through the lace.

"_K-9, scan_," he demanded, in a hushed voice.

"All normal," K-9 replied, instantly. He'd obviously been scanning since he got there.

"_Yeah, so far_," Clyde muttered, sinking back in his seat, before catching me, "Star!"

"I'm fine," I reassured, although I most definitely wasn't.

"_You brought the dog_!" Luke hissed at Clyde, as he continued to comfort me.

"_Well, what did you think was under there; the wedding cake?" _Clyde hissed back, "_There's something wrong about this. _Look at Star, her alien-ness is picking it up."

"I don't have alien powers, Clyde!" I cried, quietly.

"_Good afternoon, everyone," _the Reverend began, turning Luke and Clyde's attention. I was still distracted by the pain in my head and my breaths that were beginning to grow short and hard. "_I'm the superintendent registrar. We are here today to witness the marriage of Sarah Jane Smith and Peter Anthony Dalton. In each other's company they have found happiness, fulfilment and love, and they wish to affirm their relationship with this marriage. Now, I have to ask this question..." _

The pain worsened. I wanted to scream, but I knew I couldn't... Not here. There was something in my mind- I could feel it. It was sharp, pushing... Contorting. My muscles tightened and Luke felt it. He put his arm around me tightly and wrapped his other arm around my front, so he was hugging me tightly.

"Star, what's wrong?" he asked, worriedly, looking up at Clyde, who was concerned also.

I couldn't reply, only let out a sharp- like the pain in my head- gasp like choke, which hopefully others would mistake for crying (which was stupidly, but in this situation thankfully possible at a wedding).

Then, there was a noise. A noise that I knew all to well. That sound of the Time Vortex being opened and closed. The sound that makes my head hurt more and more and more.

"_If any person can show just cause or impediment," _the Reverand continued,"_ why they may not be joined together, let them speak now or forever hold their peace." _

The room went silent.

The pain faded. I took a deep breath, remembering how comfortable it was to not be in pain.

Then there was noise. The echoing of a door shutting hard rang through the hall and not long after... A deep, loud, bellowing voice.

"STOP THIS WEDDING NOW!"


	23. 22, Hold On!

Stargazing

Chapter 22, Hold On!

Star's POV

When I had thought something would go wrong, I wasn't exactly sure what was actually going to happen. I had no clue as to what was going to actually happen and, so, I hadn't actually thought about what could happen and more to that, when it did happen, what we would do. I hadn't even realised this until now and usually, I was pretty good at thinking on the spot.

Well, I wasn't this time.

The man who had rushed through the doors and into the hall, was tall and dressed in a blue suit. His hair was a dark brown and scruffy and he had a very desperate look on his face. Thinking back, I tried to remember if I'd ever seen him before. But his face didn't ring any bells. None at all. Yet, there was something about him I recognised.

"_What?!_" Sarah Jane cried. I had never seen her so alarmed before. And what made it stranger- but still made sense- was Peter looked perfectly calm. Like... He'd planned this to happen.

The quietness of the room disappeared and it was swallowed up into a roar of confused questions. Everyone was flickering between Sarah Jane and Peter and the man who had just burst in to the ceremony.

"_What's going on?" _I heard Gita demand from across the hall.

"_Who the hell is that?!" _Mr Chandra shouted. I wanted to know just as much- if not more- as he did.

"Luke, what's happening?" I asked him, which seemed like a very stupid thing to do, since there was no reason for him to know if I didn't.

"_I don't believe it..." _was the only reply I got.

Luke appeared to be the only person in the room who wasn't shocked, which really didn't make sense, since after his certainty that Peter was 'a perfectly ordinary human being'. Other than Sarah Jane, he should be the most confused and furious person in the room. Of course, I was glad he wasn't, but it still didn't make sense. Looking at the man... He looked like he was glad he'd arrived... An unexpected glad. What was going on?

"_Who's he_?" Rani asked Luke, like me, assuming that Luke knew who this man was.

Suddenly, K-9 began beeping over all the noise and rolled out from under the table. Luckily, everyone was completely distracted by the sudden turn of events, so no one noticed the metal dog buzz about.

"_Master!_" K-9 squealed. Well, as much as a robot dog could squeal.

Sarah Jane looked back at Peter and hesitated. I wondered for a second whether she was going to go away and run over to this mystery man. Then a thought struck me. Was this an old partner of Sarah Jane? Had he helped her save the Earth? That would explain K-9 calling him Master.

"_I said stop this wedding!" _the man threatened, swaggering forward.

I looked back at Luke, about to force some sort of explanation out of him, but before I could, a strong gust of wind began to blow. Since I spent most of my time- annoyingly- in England, I was used to random outbursts of weather, but since we were indoors, the wind didn't make much sense. The breeze tousled through my hazel hair and I whipped a few strands out of my face, before looking at the watch Sarah Jane had 'given' to me and opened it up. I didn't have to know how to read it to know that aliens were around.

"_Alert! Alert! Danger, Mistress!" _K9 warned; he'd obviously picked up the alien activity, too.

"_Sarah! Get away from him!" _the man yelled.

This time, she did react. She tried to walk away from the unsuspecting Reverend and Peter, who was still looking far too relaxed. That was until Sarah Jane tried to make her way towards the man. She was quick, but Peter was quicker and he took a strong grip on her arm.

"_No! Peter..." _she cried, as she attempted to struggle out of his grip.

"_Don't be afraid, Sarah Jane," _Peter told her, _"It's the Angel."_

And, then, even creepier than things had already become, something appeared.

Now, I'd seen a lot of different species, but I'd never seen one like _this_ before. It was about six foot tall and had a lanky figure, which was kept well hidden by a white cloak. The material reached over his head, which looked like polystyrene cloaked in a pair of stretched tights. Where its eyes were, there were too deep, dark dents in its face and the opening for its mouth was wrinkled and flaky. I wasn't sure if I'd rather meet thirteen daleks in the middle of Arktranoepea (true story) or walk into whatever this was, in a dark alley.

"_The Trickster!" _Rani exclaimed.

"The what?!" I said, growing even more confused by the minute.

"_Mum! Mum!" _Luke began, trying to make his way through the gale force winds towards her.

"_Sarah!" _the man yelled, "_Trickster, let her go!" _

The 'Trickster' merely laughed and took a grip on Sarah Jane's arm- one that made her shiver. "_Too late, Time Lord!"_

"What..." I began. Time... Lord?

"_You're mine, Sarah Jane Smith," _the creature snarled, "_Mine forever."_

Screams, shrieks and shouts bellowed up from the small turn out to the wedding as Sarah Jane, Peter and the alien vanished into thin air. I tried to shout after them, but it was no use. They were gone. The creature had taken them... A stab of guilt hit me, as I realised if I'd tried harder to investigate the strange occurrences, this wouldn't have happened, but I knew I couldn't dwell on that yet.

"_Sarah!" _the man continued to shout, running forward to where they'd just been standing, _"Sarah! No!" _

Before any of the rest of us could react, the ground began to shake and we swung from side to side. It began in the ground, but that was only where it started. Soon, everything was shaking. The air rattled in my ears and the nausea from the car drive swelled back up into my throat. The world swayed and looking around, I saw I wasn't the only one who was like this.

Few people had turned up to the wedding, but the terrorised screams sounded like they were coming from a crowd of thousands. But, then, just like Sarah Jane and Peter had, they all disappeared.

"_Mum! Dad!" _Rani tried to shout, but the shaking world refused to let the noise travel far.

"_Hold on!" _the man, who other than us, was the only one left, instructed, "_Everyone, hold on!" _

Seconds later, another gust of wind hit the room like a twisting tornado and I was thrown back. Landing on a chair I rolled off, falling back onto the ground.

Everything went black.

* * *

**AN: Right, short update, I know. This was going to be joined onto the last update, but I got impatient... :P**

**Anyway, I've changed my pen name. It was between Song in the Tardis and Melody Who- guess which I went for ;)**

**Also, Star shall very soon be getting her own facebook page! :D There, I'll be posting little one-shot things, so if anyone has any ideas for that, leave them now! I'm kinda short on ideas, so requests would be pretty good actually ;)**

**Reviews are fabulous! **

**x**


	24. 23, Star Who?

Stargazing

Chapter 23, Star Who?

The darkness behind my eyelids was thick, but strangely comfortable. Like waking up first thing in the morning and knowing you have another hour in bed, before getting up becomes compulsory. Or maybe it was more like going to sleep; laying down in bed and feeling that relaxing wave wash over you, obliterating all the stress. Only I wasn't going to sleep. I was waking up. Moreover, I wasn't in bed. I was on the stone hard, cold floor.

The bright, piercing light, illuminated my awareness, chasing away all the darkness that lurked in my unconscious mind. The light was the first thing I noticed. Shortly followed by the dull ache in my head. It wasn't as sharp and as agonising as before, but sure enough, it was still painful. As more and more of my senses creeped back and the more I awoke from the forced slumber, I'd been cloaked in, the more memories returned.

We'd been at Sarah Jane's wedding and suddenly, a man had appeared demanding that the wedding should not go on. Within seconds, the room had been thrown into chaos, and I sensed that the reason the memories were so lost and buried in my mind, wasn't because I was only just gaining conscious, but because everything had happened so fast. K-9 had told us alien activity was around and before anyone knew it, an alien had appeared. One that I didn't know, but one Rani had identified as 'The Trickster'. In addition to the madness, Sarah Jane had called the man 'Doctor' before she disappeared.

But, surely, there was no way...

"Star? Star!" Luke's alarmed voice snapped me out my muddled thoughts and brought me back into the dreary reality, which felt just as much real as a dream.

Quickly, I noticed four faces around me; Luke, Clyde, Rani and the man. We were in the hall where Sarah Jane was having her wedding, but it was empty. No one apart from us was there. It was too quiet. Too, painfully quiet.

"Luke," I muttered, as he helped me sit up and eventually stand up, by holding me around the waist.

"Are you all right? You were out longer than us," Luke asked, concerned, looking at me carefully.

"Yeah, I'm fine," I told them, pressing one of my hands against my forehead, as the drilling pain pulsed. It was growing fainter and fainter each time it sprung, which I was very grateful for. "My head... It just... It's fine now."

"Yeah, sorry about that," the man apologised, wincing slightly, "I had to find something to lock down on, to get here. I've been trying for a while, but something stopped the TARDIS from landing. For some reason, the TARDIS was able to hook onto you and use you as a sort of... Tracker. But, yeah, sorry, that must have hurt. A lot. Sorry."

For several seconds, about fifty responses ran through my mind. The first was 'that's okay' but, really, things were most definitely not okay. The second, was an explanation as to why the TARDIS would have locked down on me, since Dad had explained to me that the connection with the TARDIS and me, meant that it would be able to find me wherever I was. But before I could say that, I realised that this man had _the _TARDIS which lead to the response that stumbled out of my mouth first.

"Who the hell are you?" I demanded.

"Oh, come on, Star, you know me," he smirked. The look I gave him clearly indicated what I was thinking; that I had no idea at all who he was, since after a few seconds, he frowned, and added, "Oh, you don't, do you...?"

No," I murmured, whilst shaking my head.

Clyde, Luke and Rani exchanged several glances between each other, before Luke tugged at my arm and gently pulled me over to the side, about five feet away from the man. Clyde and Rani came over to.

"Luke, what's going on?" I asked. Apparently, I was too loud, since Luke hushed me and replied in a whisper.

"Okay, this is kind of complicated to explain," he began, "But the Doctor you know, what regeneration is he in?"

"Eleventh," I replied, in a hushed voice.

"Okay, well, that is the Doctor," Luke explained, "In his tenth regeneration."

I was silent for a few seconds, before letting out a small, "Oh."

"But, he... He knew me... He knew my name... He said I should know him," I stuttered.

"Yeah," Clyde spoke up, "He seems to know you from somewhere... He met you before."

"Yeah, how many times has he met me before?!" I hissed, now growing angry.

"Well, when your Dad came to us," Luke tired to say.

"He came to you!" I burst, "You've seen my Dad! When was this, why didn't you tell me?!"

"He said we couldn't," Rani defended, "All he said was..."

"He said 'look after her. And, you'll be seeing me again soon, but a past me; one that didn't know Star. Well, yet. Just remember, Don't tell her yet. Wait until I- the past me, that is- comes. Then, tell her she can't tell me- again, that's the past me- who she is. Got it?'" Luke recited.

"Photographic memory?" Clyde questioned.

"Yeah," Luke answered, before turning back to me, "Basically, you just can't tell him you're his daughter."

"Well, I already knew that," I shrugged, "But... He said I'd be meeting a version of him that didn't know me. But he knows me. Well, sort of."

"Maybe he just got confused," Clyde suggested.

"No, he never does," I sort of lied.

"Is everything all right over there?" the Doctor (there was no way at all I was referring to him as my Dad) called.

"Got it?" Luke asked.

"Of course," I smirked, "Screwed up time lines? I do this sort of thing all the time."

"Yet, you're listening to _us _tell you what to do," Clyde mocked.

"Well, I've got no choice," I shrugged, "Besides, we've got more important issues on our mind at the moment."

"Good point," Clyde conceded.

"You four...?" the Doctor called again.

With a quick and deep breath, I turned away from Luke, Rani and Clyde and faced him.

I was faced with the past version of my Father and the confusion was being placed with anger. Surely Dad- the Dad I knew- could have warned me about this. Not them! Why couldn't he have told me? My fury towards Dad (again, the version I knew) was continuing to grow and had been for a while. First, he abandons me for four months, without even showing his face and then, he comes back with a terrible excuse. Secondly, a past regeneration of him shows up, with no warning and no instructions on what to tell him and what not to tell him.

If he'd met me before (this version of him) then he would obviously know a few things about me. For example, my name. But what else? Since I didn't see this man as my father one bit, I wouldn't make the mistake of calling him Dad, but what else was there I couldn't tell him. I had no idea. I just had to improvise and, really, I had no idea how I was going to do that.

"Hi," I started, "Umm... Sorry, it's just... You're different. I know a different you. I got confused."

"Ah, that's no problem," he beamed. Faintly, I could see Dad in him. I wasn't sure what it was, since everything he said, I couldn't picture Dad saying and neither could I match the tones he used. Maybe it was the fact that we were standing in an abandoned church hall and Sarah Jane had just been kidnapped and he was smiling. Dad and the Doctor definitely seemed to have the same optimistic personality. Still, though, it wasn't enough. He wasn't Dad.

Strangely, a sort of hate and anger of mine found itself pinning to him. After all, I was still angry with Dad in some ways for leaving me on Earth for four months without coming back even to visit, but I wasn't seeing the Doctor as my Dad (not this one, anyway), so why was I now blaming what he'd done on him? He hadn't even done it yet!

"But, you know me, future me, right?" I checked, trying as hard as I could to be polite, since even just being civil wouldn't work under these circumstances.

"Yes, the future you; the future Star Oswald," he continued to grin.

"Star who?" I asked.

If the future me had met him, why hadn't I just been able to say my real name. And... 'Oswald'. Where had that come from, anyway? I didn't know anyone with the last name Oswald. And since I wasn't exactly a creative person, I wouldn't be able to think up a surname on the spot. Especially not one like 'Oswald', anyway. However, it didn't take long for me to shrug it off. After all, it was the future and I had no idea what was going to happen in it. Also, my mind needed to be in the present.

"Oh, are you not Oswald yet?" he questioned.

"No," I said, before realising the mistake and quickly correcting myself, "No, no, I am Star _Oswald," _the name rolled off my tongue uncomfortably. "I thought you said... Os...weld."

"I didn't say Osweld," the Doctor replied, seeming offended, "I said Oswald."

"I know," I shrugged, putting my hands behind me. I'd felt I'd been doing a pretty good job of hiding the bubbling anger, but for a second, I quivered and let loose, muttering, "I just misheard you, like you misheard a few days for a few months."

"Sorry, what?"

"Nothing," I replied, in an innocent tone.

"O...K," Clyde said, "As much as I hate to break up the reunion, I think we have more pressing matters going on."

The Doctor looked around for a second, before he snapped into action. "Right, yes. Yes!" he cried, before running down the hall.

"_I hope you're as good as Sarah Jane says you are," _Clyde called after him, as the Doctor dropped down to the floor, putting his ear to the ground.

"_Well, you know journalists, always exaggerating," _the Doctor replied before jumping up, "_But, yeah, I'm pretty amazing on a good day."_

"_Master! Query: where is Sarah Jane?"_

I jumped. I hadn't realised that K-9 was here. Then again, at least it now made sense why he was calling the man 'master'.

Like me, the Doctor hadn't seemed to notice that K-9 was with us and jumped back down to greet the dog better than he'd greeted any of us- well, I assumed so, anyway.

"_K-9!" _he exclaimed, cooing, "_Did you miss me? Did you miss me?"_

K-9, however, seemed completely oblivious to his 'master's' greeting. "_Repeat: whereabouts of Sarah Jane? Where is she?"_

"_Where are we?"_ Clyde questioned, before the Doctor could tell us where Sarah Jane was, which kind of annoyed me. At that moment, I cared a lot more about where Sarah Jane was and not where we were.

We walked over to the window, which showed... Well, nothing. There was nothing at all out there. Just something fog cloaked in a sort of frost like crisp. It went on for miles. More than that; that was all there was. It was like all the things I'd seen had disappeared in a blink. Perhaps like it had been dragged away. Whatever had happened didn't really matter, though, I suppose. All that had ever been there was gone.

* * *

**AN: This chapter's kinda been cut short, but I REALLY wanted to update, so... Here you go!**

**Also, I'm sorry for not saying thank you sooner, but BIG THANKS to The Reckless Loser and Amy Angel Allen for reviewing the last chapter :)**

**Oh, and theories are always welcome!**

**On a final note, I have set up a Facebook page to Star- which you can get to through my profile. Please check it out- I would be very grateful! :)**

**x**


	25. 24, Friend or Foe?

Stargazing

Chapter 24, Friend or Foe?

"_There's been a dimensional shift," _the Doctor explained, whilst the four of us stood staring at the field of nothing, "_Time's moved, but, us... and this entire building, we've been left behind."_

I hadn't needed an explanation as to what a dimensional shift was; Dad and me had been caught up in one last Autumn. Well, when I say 'Dad and me' I mean just me. We'd visited a planet that had an ocean of a hundred colours and whilst sailing across it on a cruise we'd 'stowed away' on, when the ship had passed a wavering time line. Unlike this one- well, what I suspected of this one- it was an accidental dimensional shift, which had been caused by a paradox (that I secretly suspected Dad was somehow responsible for). I'd ended up stranded on a ship that wasn't floating on multi-coloured water, but hovering in the middle of nowhere,with two old ladies, a cat woman and one of the guides for what would have been six hours, if we weren't stopped in a nanosecond.

"_There's nothing out there," _Rani observed, in shock.

"Technically, nothing ever was," I pointed out, quietly.

"_I said all along I knew there was something wrong about all of this!" _Clyde angrily exclaimed, backing away from us.

"Oi, so did I!" I pointed out, "I even had the sonic lipstick... In my... Shoe."

It was then that I noticed it. The dull ache in my foot from where the cylinder gadget had been kept safe in front of the heel of my foot, had gone. Moreover, my right foot was flat down on my shoe. Pressing my foot further against the marble flooring, I realised it really wasn't in there. Looking down at my wrist where I'd kept the alien detector watch, I saw that was gone, too.

"You are kidding me..." I sighed, "That's just... Brilliant."

"You had the sonic lipstick in your … shoe?" Luke questioned, turning around to look at me and for once sounding confused.

"Yeah..." I replied, awkwardly, "But... It's gone... So is the watch..."

"Oh, yeah, the Trickster wouldn't have let them get through to us," the Doctor explained in a quick, murmuring voice.

"Right,_ what exactly is going on?" _Clyde demanded, after remaining in a deep thought for the past twenty seconds or so. "Dimensional shift... What?"

"_I'll explain later," _the Doctor replied, before attempting to turn around.

But, before he could, the four of us launched into rants and questions about what was going on and what was going to happen. Over the noise we were making, none of us were at all audible and were rambling and babbling so much that we most likely couldn't understand a word they were saying. I barely knew what I was saying- words of anger were just spilling out of my mouth and my mind was automatically trying to stop any things about Dad from being revealed.

The Doctor looked absolutely gobsmacked; he had no idea how to react to four furious and slightly terrified teenagers yelling simultaneously at him (then again, Dad didn't know how to cope with just one yelling at him). Frowning, he reached into his jacket pocket- a blue one that was nowhere near as terrible as Dad's fashion sense, but still nowhere near 'fashionable- and pulled out one of those plastic clackers you'd get at football games, or in children's party bags. Gritting his teeth, he span it around ferociously.

The grinding noise was loud- louder than us. It seemed to scrape through the air and bite your ears. It barely took three seconds for us to shut up.

"_Ssh!" _the Doctor cried, angrily, _"Here's your answers to all of your questions. Yes, that was the Trickster. Yes, we're trapped. Yes, I'm the only one who can get us out of the trap. _Yes, I do pretty much come along when I can and save everyone and then swagger back off to the TARDIS. _Yes, I'm gonna bring Sarah Jane and your Mum and Dad, and all the others back safe. But I can't do any of it without you." _

Weakly, Luke, Clyde and Rani winced, embarrassed, whilst I continued to frown. More and more of Dad was leaking through to the Doctor and it was making things uncomfortable and awkward. To be honest, it was kind of freaky since only I could feel the tension.

"_You... You need us?" _Clyde asked, surprised and probably slightly admired at what he was hearing.

"_Just like Sarah Jane needs you," _the Doctor replied, spinning the clacker again and hopefully, for the final time.

"_My Mum and Dad, where are they?" _Rani questioned again, growing worried.

"_Just go along with him, Rani," _Luke reassured her, _"I saw him save the world." _

"I helped him save the world," I muttered beneath my breath. Clearly though, I hadn't spoken quietly enough and the Doctor faced me, curiously.

"Future companion?" he guessed. It was an obvious stab in the dark.

"Sort of," I replied, keeping my glare firm and being careful not to let anything slip; we didn't need to slip into a deeper gap in time.

"Friend or foe?" he pushed.

I was about to reply with 'neither' since technically, that was true. Family couldn't be friends, really, could they? And after all, Dad and me didn't necessarily get along all the time. Of course he didn't actually tell me off; Rory and Amy had spent ages trying to teach him how, but the worse punishment he could ever come up with was taking away jammy dodgers, which I didn't care about at all. Ironic, really; he could have just 'stranded' me in Leadworth with Amy and Rory.

However, before I could reply, Luke spoke up, in rather a defensive tone. "Friend," he scoffed, "She wouldn't be with us otherwise."

"Right, yes, of course," the Doctor said, each word a stutter of a syllable, before seeming to jump into action, leaping down down the empty hall and through the doors, "_Right, come on, we can use the TARDIS. I assume everyone knows what the TARDIS is, unless you've really not been paying attention. And..." _

We ran after him. The sudden running was a slight shock to my system.

"Ages since I've run like this," I muttered, as we all burst out into the entrance hall.

"_Allons-y!" _the Doctor exclaimed as we all entered the hallway," _Oh, no, no, no, no, no!" _

"What?" I asked, confused.

"_It was there!" _he answered, pointing to a corner where the stairs met the wall, "_It was right there!"_

"Well it isn't now," I pointed out.

Then, as if like some sort of jinxed magic, the whirring started up again. I braced myself for the pain, but there was none. I expected the sense of the TARDIS to drift into my mind, but it didn't. And as the silhouette of the blue box pulsed in and out of the trapped second we in, I'd never felt more empty. It was like holding something, without feeling the weight of it on your skin. Or eating something without tasting it. Knowing something was there, but the activated sense being dormant was like being a ghost.

"_That noise!" _Rani cried, "_I've heard it before!" _

"_That was me, trying to break through," _the Doctor explained, loudly over the noise of the TARDIS trying to break through, "_I got knocked back by the Trickster. _I was only able to get through when I managed to hooked onto Star."

"But, how...?" Rani began to ask, but after a quick glance from me she stopped.

"_Come on. You can do it..." _the Doctor pleaded, as the TARDIS continued to struggle to land. It was driving me painfully crazy. I didn't care whether it landed or disappeared- just as long as it did one soon. "_More power! Come on!"_

And then, just like that, the whirring jilted and skipped a beat, before fading all together. Along with the light shadow of the blue box. I almost felt bad for being glad it was gone.

"_Okay, got no TARDIS," _the Doctor said, not seeming as disappointed as he would have been, if he was in the regeneration I knew and trusted, "_It can't materialise here unless time moves forward."_

"_What, so we're trapped here- wherever this is?" _Rani demanded, worried and shocked.

"_No!" he cried, turning on his heels, "Because what have I got? I've got K9."_

"_Affirmative," _K9 agreed.

"_And, I've got you _four_," _the Doctor said, whilst gesturing to all of us with his head and putting his hands in his pockets, "_And any friend of Sarah's is a friend of mine."_

"_But where is this?" _Clyde questioned harshly, ignoring the compliment, "_What's happened to the rest of the world?"_

"Well..." I began to answer, before K9 interrupted me.

"_Our present location: nowhere, nowhen," _he explained.

"Yeah, basically what K9 said," I nodded.

"_Nowhen?" _Luke questioned, raising his eyebrows.

"_Look at the clocks," _the Doctor said, gesturing towards a clock on the wall.

Looking up at the clock on the wall, it didn't take me long to know what to find. Especially since I knew what I was looking for. The second hand hadn't stopped; it was still moving. Just on the halfway point between the four and five, the second hand was jumping back and forth. Again and again and again.

"We're in a timeloop. A second of time- that's where we are," I told them, "Twenty-three seconds and twenty-three minutes past three in the afternoon."

"We're stuck in a fraction of time," Luke elaborated, "In it there's nothing. Time only works when the whole of it's running linear, but otherwise it sort of freezes. Like only part of it's there."

I frowned without taking my eyes of the clock and said, "Will I ever know more than you?"

"Probably not," Luke replied, with accidental arrogance. "Actually, I just guessed that... So I suppose you know more about time than me."

"Yeah, well, I learnt from the best," I shrugged, regretting it the second I said it.

"Thank you," the Doctor grinned.

"I never said it was you," I fired back instantly.

"Okay," Clyde said, in the sort of tone you'd use if you we making an speech or an announcement, "So, sorry to break this reunion..."

"Clyde!" I snapped, throwing yet another glare.

"...Or whatever this is," he went on, ignoring me, "_But, again, where is Sarah Jane?"_

Even I didn't have the answer to this, so we all turned to face the Doctor wanting an answer. Desperately. The Doctor didn't even move.

"_Oh_," he murmured, _"I think she's right here."_

* * *

**AN: Big thanks to The Reckless Loser, Amy Angel Allen and Mephileshomer for reviewing! **

**They make my day, so c'mon guys! Review! :)**

**x**


	26. 25, Good Name For A Band

Stargazing

Chapter 25, Good Name For A Band

Star's POV

"_So, we've been kept behind in this second?"_ Rani checked.

"_Affirmative, Mistress Rani,_" K9 answered.

It was just then that I remembered that I would have to be quiet towards K9, I couldn't risk him calling me 'Mistress Song' whilst the Doctor was around. Especially since he thought I was Star 'Oswald'- for whatever reason that was. I wasn't sure, but I was pretty certain it wouldn't be a good thing if he found out my name wasn't 'Oswald'.

Since we'd found out what was going on (well, half of what was going on) and where we were (if where we were actually was anywhere) we'd all been pretty much silent. The Doctor had ran up and down the halls scanning them with his screwdriver (that was blue, instead of green, which was really beginning to bug me) and was currently lying on the floor, scurrying and crawling around like a child- nothing new there.

"_But the rest of the world, Mum and Dad and everyone else, they've moved on from here, going forwards in time," _Rani went on.

"God, they're gonna be going mad," I muttered. No one heard me.

"_Why has the Trickster trapped us here?" _Rani questioned.

Suddenly and full of adrenaline based energy, the Doctor leaped up onto his knees. "_Oh, come on, Rani, you know the answer to that,"_ he said.

It would be a lie for me to say I wasn't curious as to why we were here and not just with the others- or with Sarah Jane. I knew it should have been something that I was thinking about, but I was struggling to concentrate on anything but the anger.

It hadn't taken long for the anger to return once I'd noticed parts of Dad leak through into the Doctor, which made me feel both nauseous and disgusted. It felt wrong; he was someone I knew very well, but he wasn't. He didn't look like him and I wasn't sure, but if he was in a different regeneration ten surely he would have different DNA? Because then, I wouldn't even be his daughter.

I wasn't sure if I wanted that to be true or not. After all, if he wasn't my Dad then I had no reason to be angry at him. Well, strictly speaking, I had no justifiable reason to be mad since I was angry at him for something he hadn't even done yet. This regeneration wasn't different enough for me to convince me that I was being irrational even though I was.

"_We're Sarah Jane's friends, all of us. Her best friends," _Rani went on.

"Yeah, well done," I muttered. I didn't mean anyone to hear me, but Luke did.

He turned around, glaring. He rarely showed it, but Luke did get fed up and annoyed quickly. It wasn't so much of a temper, but more of a desperation for things to be done and sorted. "Star, grow up. We've got other things to deal with then your immature remarks."

And that was when I lost it. I didn't know what came over me or what triggered it, but it felt like years worth of irritation and pain suddenly bubbling over the top of a long kept on lid. Fire raged through me and as Luke walked past I gripped hold of his wrist, forcing him to look at me.

"Don't you ever tell me what to do," I snarled at him, regretting it and hating myself immensely for it. I wanted to stop, but I couldn't. I didn't just feel like I wasn't me, I felt like I was watching someone else's mind. Inside, I screamed for myself to stop but the fire was more vivid and brighter. There was nothing I could do to stop myself.

Clyde pulled me back and my arms dropped to my side, shrugging him off once I was about a foot away from Luke.

"Star, calm down," Clyde told me, "We're all on edge."

He sounded more understanding than I expected anyone to be, let alone Clyde. I would expect Rani to be more reassuring than anyone, yet she was staring at me like I was a total nut case (which to be perfectly honest, was what I was feeling like). I didn't like the way the Doctor was looking at me either. He wasn't angry or concerned, but curious. I shuddered at his glance, feeling like a lab animal that was being tested with some sort of drug and looked back at Luke. Only that made the guilt worse.

"Oh, my god," I muttered. My heart was hammering (even more than it usually did) and my breaths were rapid. "Luke, I'm... I'm sorry."

"It's... fine," he replied. He didn't sound sure at all. In fact, he sort of sounded scared.

"I didn't mean..." I tried to explain.

"It's fine," the Doctor cut me off. As far as I knew, it wasn't his place to stay, "You're under stress- we all are."

I wanted to ask him if I'd acted like this the time he'd met me before. My guess was that I had- or, depending on the perspective, will. But I didn't have it in me to speak to him. All I could do was nod and then back away from Luke. I didn't feel like I had any choice but to keep my distance from him.

"You were saying, Rani," the Doctor turned to Rani, who was still staring at me as if I were a serial killer.

She jerked her head towards him and looked up. "Oh, right, yeah..." she thought for a moment, before figuring it out, "_Hostages! He can use us to get to _Sarah Jane!"

"_We've met the Trickster before," _Clyde told him, "_But we've never actually found out who he is."_

"_The Trickster is a creature from beyond the Universe. Forever trying to break into our reality, manifest himself," _the Doctor explained, "_He's one of the Pantheon of Discord."_

"_That's a good name for a band," _Clyde thought out loud.

"_Actually, not bad!" _he agreed,_ "He's an eternal exile, who exists to wreak havoc. But we can fight him, the five of us- and we can win."_

"We always do," I said.

Suddenly, there was a high-pitched beeping sound. Looking around, I saw the Doctor pull his sonic screwdriver out and we all noticed the blue light at the tip pulse on and off. Immediately, the Doctor put it to his ear.

"_That's it! A time trace; just a hint of Sarah Jane," _he exclaimed, "_Oh, she's close."_

He began walking across the room, following where the trace was leading him. We all followed after him. Rani, who was standing just in front of me, suddenly jerked and shook, her body spasming forward.

"Rani?" I asked.

"_What was that?" _she cried, looking behind her shoulder, "_Felt like someone just walked over my grave."_

The Doctor gave her a sharp look, before running over to where she stood and scanning the area with the blue screwdriver.

"_Oh, oh, oh, oh! She's here!" _he said, excitedly, "_Sarah!"_

"_'Sarah Jane' she doesn't like being called Sarah," _Rani corrected, in a whisper.

The Doctor looked at her with one eye. _"She does by me."_

"That's why Sarah Jane doesn't like it; it reminds her too much of the Doctor," I told Rani. She nodded slightly- she was still afraid after my sudden break-out earlier.

"_K9!" _the Doctor called.

"_Scanning, Master!" _K9 obeyed.

All of a sudden, we felt something like a wave of air, like when someone would run past you. Not long after, Sarah Jane's voice echoed throughout the hall. "_Doctor?!"_

"_Mum!" _Luke shouted, taking several steps towards the direction of his Mother's voice. "_That was her!"_

"_K9, isolate the time trace," _the Doctor instructed.

"_Affirmative, Master," K9 replied._

"_K9!" _the Doctor repeated, slightly hitting him on the side.

The robot dog shaked, before giving a reply. "_Temporal schism divided in two, Master!" _

The Doctor jumped back up, looking deep in thought. He frowned, before opening his mouth wide, realising what was going on. "_Yes, of course," _he replied, quietly, "_We're trapped here in three point two-three point two-three and Sarah Jane's trapped, too, just in another second."_

Clyde raised one eyebrow. "_Hold on," _he interrupted, "_You said you'd explain later. Well, it is later. Please explain."_

All four of us folded our arms and looked at him, all desperate for an explanation.

"_The Doctor doesn't want us helping Sarah," _the Doctor explained, "_So, he's separated us, trapped us in two different seconds."_

Just then, Sarah Jane's voice danced through the empty hallway again. _"Doctor!" _

We all glanced around, wishing to see her come running down the stairs, which was where her voice had just come from, but she didn't. And her voice was gone.

"_She's upstairs!" _the Doctor said, jumping to life, "_Luke, K9: watch for the TARDIS. You see it coming, shout the place down."_

"_Orders accepted, Master," _K9 agreed.

"_You _three," the Doctor turned towards Rani, Clyde and me,"_with me! Spit-spot!"_

Then just like that, I was back at how I was used to things. Running.

* * *

**AN: Thanks to Melody The Superhero and Mephileshomer for reviewing! :D**

**It would be great if you all of you new followers could leave a quick review? Please...? :)**

**x**


	27. 26, Is White The New Black?

Stargazing

Chapter 26, Is White The New Black?

As anticipated, the running seemed to get suppress whatever anger and fury was left in me- or at the very least, distract me from it.

I still wasn't exactly sure what had happened with Luke, but, with difficulty, I'd managed to convince myself that it was purely stress from meeting a previous regeneration of my Father and regret from what I'd said to him the last time I'd seen the _current _version of him. Still, though, I'd never snapped out like that so far. Never had I been so violent when dealing with someone I had feelings for. Or anyone for that matter.

I wasn't exactly sure where my feelings for Luke lay at that point; I knew I definitely felt something, but I wasn't sure what. Amy had told me that since we'd been together for six months that we were more than likely infatuated with each other as much as possible for people our age (she had a strong belief that it was impossible for anyone under the age of nineteen to fall in love) and I had always thought that true, too. However, after the discussion with Rani at the hotel earlier that day (if whenever we were counted as the same day), I'd been thinking about it. Did I want to be with Luke forever. I'd been thinking about since the conversation.

Of course, it hadn't been the number one thing on my mind. In fact, I wouldn't really say I'd been thinking about it at all, I'd just realised it all without knowing. But, now, as I was bolting up the stairs, the plain air filling my lungs, I seemed to forget about it _all_.

I burst through the door in which we believed Sarah Jane had gone through moments ago, way before any of the others did (being half Time-Lady, I had a large advantage in activities involving stamina). I quickly scanned the room, but there was no one there at all. What's more, it was the exact same room as we'd been in before.

Several seconds later, the other three dashed into the room, all stopping and gazing at the identical room.

"_How did we end up here again?" _Rani asked.

_"It's a spatial loop mixed up with a temporal loop," _Clyde explained.

I frowned, thinking for a few seconds I'd mistaken his voice for Luke's. Turning around, I saw that it was Clyde who had spoken. "You what?" I frowned again.

"_How did you work that one out?" _Rani questioned.

_"We've been doing this for a while now; I have taken notes!" _he replied, offended that we'd been surprised at his sudden outburst of intelligence.

The Doctor had paid no attention to us whatsoever and was now pacing along the room with his sonic sccrewdriver no longer flashing. "_Come on, comon, come on, Sarah, let me find you," _he muttered.

_"Hang on, though," _Rani suddenly said. All three of us turned to face her, "_This is mad! The Trickster, he's this all-powerful immortal who wants to cause chaos throughout the Stars, and he wants Sarah Jane to get married? What does he get out of that?"_

I merely shrugged, not knowing at all what the Trickster's methods were. I seriously doubted he wanted Sarah Jane to have a 'happy ending'. I did want to know why, though; Rani was right, it didn't make sense.

Before anyone else could give an explanation- if anyone had one, that is- the blue sonic began to beep again.

"_She's here!"_ the Doctor exclaimed, "_If I can narrow the link ratio..."_

The next few minutes were a blurry rush. We were all slightly confused but desperate to know what was going on and to know how we could get Sarah Jane back. None of us were particularly thinking and were just acting on the spur of the moment, which probably was one of the reasons everything seemed to happen so fast. It was like a dream.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw an array of black swirls appear at the end of the room. They span in the air like an eerie windchime before forming into the shape of the Trickster.

"_Doctor!"_ his voice sounded wrong, like it was being drained out and away through space and time.

"_Ah!" _the Doctor smiled, turning on his heels and putting the sonic screwdriver back in his pocket, "_You look better in black. Or is white the new black?"_

"_At last, Doctor,"_ the Trickster said, "_I could feel this moment reverberating back through the ages. The meeting of the Pantheon of Discord and the last of the Time Lords."_

The Doctor took a few steps forward, his hands in his pockets. "_I've known the legends of the Pantheon since I was a little boy," _he went on_, "I've fought your shadows and your changelings. I never thought we'd actually meet."_

_"And I know the legends of the Doctor. The man of ice and fire, who walked among the Gods... Once held the key to time in his hands," _the Trickster recited. I couldn't help but smile; I'd heard that legend so many times before. "And I've heard the legends and tales of The Song, written on The Walls of Kalesroity. The girl who was lost to be kept from being stolen."

I froze at his words and I didn't know why. All the words seemed new but I felt like I'd heard them everyday of my life. They swirled around my head like empty barrels and I wasn't sure why. How did a sentence that meant nothing to me make me feel so small and alone.

"The walls of Kalesroity..." I heard Rani murmur to Clyde, "Wasn't that what the Slitheen said when we first met Star?"

"Oh, is that old tale still around?" the Doctor asked non-caringly, "No one's spoken about that for years. Not since the religious order of the Silence died out."

"The Silence?" I asked. I _definitely _recognised that somehow, too. But like the tale the Trickster had just said, I had no idea where from, or what it meant. I'd never heard of a religion about silence?

Everyone seemed to ignore me.

"What about yourself though?" the Doctor changed the subject, "_You're looking a bit lonely for a Pantheon."_

_"I embody multitudes," _the Trickster bellowed, _"And who are you, the man who has lost everybody, to talk to me of loneliness, when the Gate is waiting for you?"_

_"What do you mean?" _the Doctor questioned.

_"Sarah Jane Smith is my prize," _the Trickster announced, "_Even you, Doctor, didn't realise how wonderful she is."_

_"What do you want with her?" _the Doctor demanded, suddenly seeming angry.

_"What I alwasy want from any of those I visit," _the Trickster said, "_Her agreement. Goodbye, Doctor."_

And just like that, he was gone.

* * *

**AN: Thanks to MrsDalek, Mephileshomer and Kberry for reviewing! It would mean a lot if you reviewed... I can't wait to get to 100 reviews :)**

**x**


	28. 27, TARDIS Power!

Stargazing

Chapter 27, TARDIS Power!

The Doctor stood with his back turned to us, frozen.

"_Her agreement," _he muttered, deep in thought, "_The power of words. She says I do..." _Suddenly, he jumped around, spinning on the heels of his feet, _"Yes! That's it!"_

Taking a step forward towards him, whilst glancing between Rani and me, Clyde frowned with curiosity. "_That's what?" _he asked.

The Doctor looked at us like we were stupid. I still wasn't used to that. "_She promises to love and honour her husband, the wedding ring goes on and then she's agreed to it, and she's totally under the Trickster's power," _he explained, "_Marital bliss, but she forgets all about this. She starts living a new life."_

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, you had written the perfect wedding vowels until you got to the part about the Trickster," I joked.

Clyde elbowed me in the ribs. "Yeah, Star, if you're gonna make jokes at a time like this, they've gotta be good ones," Clyde teased.

"What? And the jokes you make when you're nervous are good ones, are they?" I pointed out, smirking.

Sheepishly, Clyde looked down at the floor. Giggling, I turned back to the Doctor.

"So, she forgets _about her old life?" _Rani thought aloud, "_Protecting the Earth."_

"_And the planet's wide open, so aliens can just barge in?!" _Clyde exclaimed.

The Doctor nodded in agreement. "_Without Sarah, without you lot saving the world from your attic in Ealing, there'll be chaos and destruction; meat and drink to the the Trickster."_

I bit my lip, realising just how impossible this situation was. I'd been in hundreds of situations, revolving paradoxes and other complicated situations, but never one like this. There were only two possible things that Sarah Jane could do. And both had consequences. The answer seemed obvious; say I do. Then, there was still Dad, us and UNIT.

Even I knew, though, that there were holes in that. Dad did have a time machine, but there would always be places that he didn't save. One day Earth would be one and I knew that- just like every human knew the sun would implode and engulf Earth in several billion years. And to be honest, without Sarah Jane, us four weren't that good. Then there was UNIT, I'd worked for them and I knew what they were like. They were growing weak. Eventually- and it wouldn't be too long- they would either break and collapse, or give the Earth up.

"_As if she's gonna say yes," _Clyde scoffed.

"_But she will, won't she?" _the Doctor replied, "_Because we're here."_

"And we'll be trapped here forever, if she doesn't say I do," I added, quietly, "You know, if you think about it, this Trickster guy's pretty smart."

Clyde and Rani both sighed, shuffling around the room. Just like me, they had now realised how impossible this situation really was. We were stuck. One way or another, we were stuck. Trapped.

Suddenly, the ground began to shake and that all too familiar sound of the metallic drums rippled throughout the room. I glanced around, just like everyone else, searching for the silhouette of the blue box to show up against the walls. And it did. At the other end of the room, in the left corner, the TARDIS materialised. Only it didn't.

It buzzed in and out of the room. One second it was there, the next it wasn't. Sometimes half of it was there, sometimes none of it at all was there. It was surrounded by a red, electric zig-zags and it was refusing to land. Again, I couldn't feel her, but I was glad. I wasn't prepared to feel any sort of pain like I had before again.

"_TARDIS! Beautiful, yes!" _he cried. I had to admit that I'd never seen him so excited before, "_It's homing in on me! Emergency program, protecting the pilot, of course! Partial materialisation."_

Luke and K9, after obviously hearing the racket the TARDIS was making, came bolting into the room.

"_What's happening?_" asked Luke, over the noise.

"_Look!" _the Doctor exclaimed, putting his arms around Luke and me. Quickly, I pulled myself away and pushing Rani into my place, "_That's pure artron energy! TARDIS power! Equal and opposite to the Trickster's power, that's how we can fight him!"_

Then, there was a gust of wind and the Doctor forced his way to the TARDIS and in through the door. He grabbed my hand pulling me towards him and I grabbed Clyde's hand. The Doctor had a strong grip on the door, but most of his strength was in his other arm, where he was trying to pull us all in. With a final shake from the TARDIS and a strong tug, I was pulled into the TARDIS and I staggered onto the metal flooring.

Behind me, the door slammed.

"Star? Star?"

I felt a hand on my shoulder and I jumped up, spotting the Doctor next to me. My eyes fell off him quickly, as I stared around the TARDIS. She was very different. So different it didn't even matter to me that I couldn't feel or hear her. Well, mostly. The control room was the same sort of shape and the control panel was the same, so I did feel slightly empty. However, numbness was better than the pain again.

"Wow..." I muttered, walking around the control panel. This TARDIS was a lot more yellow then the one I knew. The walls were covered in circular lights than reminded me off a Dalek's armour.

"You like it?" he grinned, circling around a half of the control panel, flying the TARDIS.

"Eh. Not particularly," I shrugged.

He stared at me for a few seconds, before shaking his head and returning to flying the TARDIS. I found it slightly amusing, since I knew Dad would have said something insulting to anyone who insulted the TARDIS.

I looked up at him. "So what do we do now?"

"We go to Sarah," he answered.

"And the others?"

"If the Trickster comes back- to them, I mean- they'll fight him."

"They'll... They'll fight him?" I stuttered, making my way to him, "What do you mean? They can't!"

He simply nodded. "Yes they can," he replied, "Artron energy. Didn't you hear what I said? The equal and opposite to the Trickster's power- how we can fight him. Clyde fell onto the door of the TARDIS, so he'll have contracted it and if they're clever enough- which they are- they'll know to use it."

I stared at him.

"Do you want me to repeat that slower?" he asked.

"No, I've got it," I answered, "And we need to go and tell Sarah Jane to break whatever deal it is with the Trickster."

It was his turn to stare at me. "I thought you hadn't dealt with the Trickster before?"

"I haven't," I replied, beginning to circle the control panel again, "I'm just smart."

He nodded slightly and returned to his job of flying the TARDIS. I wasn't sure where we were headed- obviously the second in which Sarah Jane was- but I didn't know how he knew where it was, or even where it was. Without any connection to the TARDIS, I was simply lost as to what the Doctor was doing, so I just relaxed as much as I could and watched him. Of course, though, that didn't last for long.

"When did you meet me before?" I asked him.

He looked up. "Hmm?"

"You said you met me before? When? Or how old was I at the time?"

"Err... About nineteen. Maybe twenty. Actually, possibly twenty-one. Or eighteen."

"Late-teens, early twenties?"

"Yeah, pretty much," he shrugged, before returning back to flying the TARDIS.

"Who was I with?"

He sighed. "You ask a lot of questions, don't you?"

I smirked. "People say I take after my Father."

His obliviousness to my comment was hysterical and I struggled to stop myself from grinning. Luckily, he didn't notice it; or just chose to ignore it.

"You were with the future me and your sister."

My eyes widened. Sister...? I knew there were two possibilities to this. One: I have a sister. Or two: Me and my 'sister' lied for something to make sense. Once on an adventure, I'd had to say Amy was my Mother (which, of course, she wasn't too happy about). But why on Earth had I told him my last name was Oswald. I mean, I understood perfectly why I couldn't say Song, but if I had to use a fake identity, I used Carryington, like I'd used to Primary and the first year of Secondary school. If I couldn't use that, then why hadn't I gone for something more simple or related to someone I knew; like Pond, or Smith. Why not even Chandra?

I was knocked out by my thoughts as the TARDIS suddenly jolted to the side, falling on its side.

"What was that?" I yelled, as the TARDIS was thrown back onto the opposite side. My hand's were thrown against the bottom of the control panel.

"The Trickster's power," he shouted over the crashing noises. "It's fighting the artron energy!"

There were several more jolts and shakes, but it was nothing more than I was used to. In fact, I found it a lot easier than I would in the TARDIS I knew. There was none of her pain leaking through to me like there would be with my TARDIS. As I was jerked about, back and forth, I strangely found myself enjoying it. I guess after four months of my only vortex jumping being from two-thousand and nine Ealing, to two thousand and thirteen Leadworth.

"How's it getting to us?" I called from the other side of the control room.

The Doctor was thrown towards the control panel as the blue box was thrown back onto its other side and he grabbed the underneath of it with one hand and a lever with the other hand; obviously, I didn't know anymore what it did, but I could guess that it stabled it or put up some defence system around us.

"It's surrounded the seconds; all the holes in the vortex that lead to different times and places, the two seconds that we were trapped in were sealed off by it," he explained, before darting over to the entrance of the TARDIS, struggling to keep his balance. "Star, come on!"

I wasted no time in following him and rushed over to the doors- finding that standing up with nothing to lean or lend you support on a very difficult task indeed. Stumbling to the entrance, I crashed right into the doors, causing them to hurl open. A gust off wind swirled into my torso, but I was heavier and flew through, however it still felt like I was smashing through glass. I hit an unexpected marble floor with and was immediately forced onto my side by another wind, flying from my direction.

Shaking my head, I stood up. The first thing I saw was Sarah Jane. She was standing in her wedding dress and her eyes were red and puffy; she was about to cry if she hadn't already been. Opposite her, was Peter, standing there desperately.

Sarah Jane's glance switched from Peter, to the TARDIS behind me and then to me. Lifting the skirt up off the floor slightly to giver her enough space to run without tripping over the silk, she took several large paces over to me.

"Star?" she said, "Are you all right?"

I nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine," I replied.

Looking back up at the TARDIS, Sarah Jane shouted over the noise at the Doctor. _"Doctor?!" _

"_Got to be quick. The TARDIS can't stabilise," _the Doctor explained quickly, "_Oh, those three are just brilliant."_

I coughed.

"Oh, sorry... Four," he apologised, nodding to me.

"_Doctor, what can I do?" _Sarah Jane cried, turning back to the current predicament, "_If I say no, we're trapped forever, if I say yes, I condemn the world to the Trickster! Either way I lose. There's no way out!"_

"_It all rests with you, Sarah," _the Doctor replied. His voice flat, yet grave, "_Your greatest challenge, the hardest thing you'll ever face in your life."_

"_What is it?"_ Sarah Jane demanded, "_Tell me what I've got to do!"_

"_You've fought the Trickster before, you know how he operates. How he can be defeated," _the Doctor said to her.

With just one glance at Sarah Jane, I froze. The expression on her face was one I'd never seen before. It was a mix of distraught and denial, tears began to fall and her face crumpled in refusal. I tried to move towards her, but I was stuck to the ground.

She turned around to look at Peter. "_Oh, no," _she shook her head firmly, "_No!"_

"_I know you're a good man, Peter," _the Doctor told Peter, who was standing there weakly and in confusion, "_I'm so sorry."_

Peter looked as if he was about to say something, but he didn't get a chance.

Out of nowhere, a buzz of orange and flame like particles exploding at the other end of the room and two figures appeared with them; The Trickster and Clyde. They both groaned in agony, before they both fell to the ground. The Trickster weak, but Clyde...

His eyes were shut and his body limp; the artron energy from where he appeared pushed Clyde across the room, rolling him towards Sarah Jane's actions.

"_Clyde!" _Sarah Jane and me both shouted at the same time, running forward to him. Sarah Jane dropped to her knees, catching him and holding him in her arms.

From behind us, there was a roar of shaking artron energy.

"_I can't hold it!" _the Doctor shouted.

Then, what of the TARDIS was materialised, de-materialised and we were left alone. The Doctor was gone, Clyde was gone and all that was left was us three. And the only way out was for Sarah Jane to make the choice.

* * *

**AN: Sorry it's been a while, but... WE GOT TO 100 REVIEWS!**

**Thanks to KBerry, Melody The Suphero, Mephileshomer & Tayla for the reviews! **

**Care to leave a review? **

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	29. 28, This Wedding Is Cancelled

Stargazing

Chapter 28, This Wedding Is Cancelled

* * *

The room was uncomfortably silent without the sound of the TARDIS trying to stabilize.

I sat on the floor next to Sarah Jane, an inch of the green dress's hem spread across the floor, holding tightly onto her arm, with Clyde in front of her. I really was beginning to feel more and more alone and this time I was blaming it on the fact that even the past regeneration of Dad had abandoned us. Even if this time it truly wasn't his fault.

I glanced at Sarah Jane, who had tears streaming down her face. She didn't even look me in the eye, but I felt heart-wrenched like you do when watching those films were two people, who had some deep romantic bond were being separated through war or politics. Her eyes were fixed on Peter.

"_Peter, I do love you," _she said, "_But the Doctor's right; there is another way out."_

"_Do not listen to her lies!" _the Trickster snarled.

I'd forgotten about the Trickster lying weakly on the floor several metres behind Peter. I wasn't really concentrating on him. Although he seemed psychopathic, he definitely wasn't violent, so I didn't really need to worry about him cornering us with a gun or anything like that. Besides, he was still weak from whatever had happened to him.

Ironically, no one listened to him.

"_Your accident," _Sarah Jane went on, "_He can only talk to the people who are about to die. He comes to them in that final moment, he gives them back their life."_

I frowned in confusion. "What accident...?" I asked.

Sarah Jane turned to me. "Oh, Peter fell down the stairs and supposedly died," she explained quickly before turning back. I nodded; I'd received quicker responses to more complicated situations.

"_What do you mean?" _Peter demanded, in just as much confusion as I was.

"_Clyde, Rani and _Star _said your house was empty. Why did you never let me see your house?" _Sarah Jane questioned softly. "_You died in that accident, Peter. But he needed you, so he kept you alive, and if we got married, the bargain would be complete! He would bring you back to life." _

I began to bite my thumb.

"_Your love brought me back to life," _Peter said, "_How can that be wrong... To save a life?"_

Angrily, Sarah Jane gestured to Clyde. _"This is what he'll do to millions of people!" _Sarah Jane cried, "_Unless... Unless you break your deal with him."_

"_But I'll lose you," _Peter protested, stepping forward, "_I'll die! I don't want you to be alone_

I could see the desperation in his face and I felt the anger begin to build up inside me again, as I realised what he was desperate for. It was a difficult challenge to hold it in, but I knew that right now, I had to. There was no way I was going to break Sarah Jane's heart more than it already was and neither did I want her to see me angry; behaving like that towards Luke had been bad and guilt-racking enough.

"_I love you," _Sarah Jane said to Peter, with his hand now against her face, I flinched away from both of them, "_But I can't love you. You said you'd do anything to save me. If you love me, you know what you have to do."_

Proudly, I smiled at Sarah Jane. She knew what she was doing, no matter whether she knew Peter's true intentions about what he wanted.

"_No!" _the Trickster cried from behind us.

I was expecting us all to ignore the Trickster, but Peter turned to look at him, giving the rest of us no choice but to do the same.

"_You got one thing exactly right," _Peter told him, _"Sarah Jane and I, we were made for each other. We're the perfect match. And I know what she would do." _He slipped the ring off of his finger and into his hand.

"_I chose you because you didn't have enough strength," _The Trickster growled. I had to agree with the Trickster there; he definitely wasn't a strong-willed person.

"_You really don't know my Sarah Jane, do you?" _Peter seemed to shout, "_She gave me the strength. And I with draw my agreement!"_

Peter hurled the gold, wedding ring towards the Trickster's weakened body. It struck the middle of his body and the creature cried out in a deep pain, as if the ring had stabbed him. There was a bright flash; like a ball of yellow lightning, before a series of blue lines split out, fizzling like electric waves.

"_No!" _the Trickster shouted, one last time, before vanishing into another burst of iridescent light.

The room was strangely quiet with the Trickster now gone and even though I still most certainly didn't trust Peter, I pitied him. However, of course I could feel Sarah Jane's pain more. I swallowed the, lump in my throat, squeezing her hand gently, comforting her.

"_So," _Peter said. The fear in him was so real, all of my senses could pick it up. "_Here I go. I wish I'd always known you."_

"_I love you, Peter," _Sarah Jane told him. She was beginning to cry again.

"_And I love you... Sarah Jane Dalton," _Peter replied, his hand reaching out towards her, as he began to disappear. Small spheres of white light began to drift upwards, as he began to fade away like a hologram. It lasted a matter of seconds, but I knew to Sarah Jane it would have felt like a fraction of a moment and I also knew that she would have wanted it to last a moment. But either way, he was now gone.

She began to choke on tears once Peter was gone, bending her head downwards and weeping heavily. Quickly, I put my arm around her, hugging her tightly and as soothingly as I could.

There was a sudden burst of footsteps echoing from down the hallway, outside the door and I jerked my head up just in time to see Rani, Luke and the Doctor burst through the large, double doors and ran forward, all crouching around us. K9 followed after them, which I secretly found amusing.

"_Doctor! Oh, Doctor!" _Sarah Jane wept, as I unwrapped my arms from around her, as the Doctor took a hold of her.

"_My Sarah Jane," _the Doctor muttered into her hair.

Luke dropped down beside me, taking hold of my arm and turning to me. "You okay?" he asked quietly.

I nodded, mouthing 'yeah' to him, causing us to both smile lightly.

"_You did it, the trap's broken," _the Doctor continued, "_Time's moving forward again."_

Whilst K9's antennae went up, detecting the artron energy, Clyde woke up. He frowned in confusion, wondering why on earth he was on the floor and why he was in Sarah Jane's arms. I had to bite my lip to stop myself laughing, since I knew this _really _wasn't the time.

"_We're going home!" _the Doctor announced with a shout, just as the room began to shake back and forth, "_Hold on!" _

We all curled up together, Luke holding me close to him, as the world around us shook. My stomach twisted with nausea as we were violently rocked from side to side. The room blurred all into one colour, as it shook faster and faster. Luke held me tighter.

Suddenly a flash of white ripped around us, sucking everything in, into nothing.

There was an empty second. No colours. No sounds. Nothing. I was thinking nothing. It was like being dead for a second. Everything just... Gone. Alive and full of energy one second and gone and empty the next. Without a trace of anything ever being anywhere.

I inhaled sharply and the nothing had been filled.

We were in the hall where the ceremony was taking place. All of us and all the rest of the people who'd been there before the Trickster and the Doctor had shown up. I glanced around to double check. Sure enough, the Trickster and the Doctor were no longer here, but everyone else was. All the guests that I'd seen out of the corner of my eye earlier were still there, including Sarah Jane's hairdresser, accountant and, of course, Gita and Mr Chandra. Then either side of me was Luke and Clyde, and beside Clyde, there was Rani. Looking forward, the registrar was still there and so was Sarah Jane, standing right next to where Peter stood.

And that was when I realised that there was one person missing from before. The only sign that what had just happened wasn't just my imagination or a black-out sort of thing from where I'd had that headache earlier. The groom was gone. Peter had disappeared. Vanished.

Just as I realised, everyone else seemed to as well and in barely a second, the room was filled with confused whispers and mutters.

"_Where's he gone?" _I heard Gita, Rani's Mother, hiss from the opposite aisle, "_Sarah's bloke, where's he gone?"_

I wasn't quite sure how this was going to look for everyone else. The seconds that we'd been trapped in would be parallel to the one's they had lived, meaning that they wouldn't have seen what had just happened, and although that would have given an explanation as to where Peter had vanished to, it would have also given us a _lot _more of questions to answer. From the raised eyebrows and inquisitive looks scanning the room, I assumed that it would simply look like he'd disappeared. Maybe a clever last minute escape from a wedding, which he had _very _late second thoughts to. _  
_

"_Where's the Doctor?" _Luke muttered, looking down at the double doors, which he'd last made his entrance through.

"Where he always is," I said quietly, "Not where he should be."

"He'll come back," Luke whispered to me, squeezing my hand lightly, "If not for Mum, for you."

"_That all really happened, didn't it?" _Rani queried, already knowing the answer.

"_Yeah..." _Clyde responded, looking at his hands.

There was a small rickety sound of wheels turning as the top of K9's head appeared out from under the table. "_Affirmative," _he buzzed, before disappearing back under the table again.

We all looked back up at Sarah Jane at that point, our eyes joining where everyone else's where. Her back was still turned- the exact position she'd been in whilst the ceremony was taking place- but it was clear she was shaking.

I sighed, as Luke stood up, letting go off my hand and heading over to her. _"Mum?"_

Hearing her son's voice, she turned around. Her whole body, fingers especially, were trembling and the bouquet of flowers seemed to shiver in her hands. Her eyes were brimming with tears and she swallowed several times before she could speak.

"_I'm sorry everybody," _she announced, "_But I'm afraid the wedding... is cancelled."_

The flowers fell from her hands, tumbling down to the marble flooring, landing on the heads of the petals and strewing across the tiles. All eyes were on her pitifully, as she walked back down the aisle and out of the building, alone.

This was exactly why I didn't do weddings.

* * *

**AN: Right, yes (I really need to find another way of starting Author's notes...) hello, I'm back! It's now the summer and I _still _haven't finished this story. BUT only 2 more chapters left and since I don't really have any plans for this Summer apart from a week with my cousin and redecorating, I should be back on my CRAZY VIVID AND SUDDEN updating magicness again! :P Anyway, I hope you enjoyed, please leave a review :)**

**x**


	30. 29, Have I Confused You?

Stargazing

Chapter 29, Have I Confused You?

I stepped over to the sink with the kettle in my hand, before turning the tap on and filling the kettle up. Luke sat behind me on the table, biting the top of his thumb. He was angry- and I understood that perfectly. I was furious as well, but I wasn't going to let it show. Not again.

Once I'd put the kettle on to boil, I turned around to face him, leaning on the kitchen counter. He looked up and gave me a small smile, before turning back around and staring straight ahead. Sighing I looked down, immediately frowning at the green dress I was still wearing.

We'd gotten in only a few minutes ago, after doing our best to calm everyone down back at the hall. It was near impossible to do so and several people had suggested calling the police, certain that Peter's disappearance was too sudden and unnoticeable to be more than just a last minute run-off. Without the time to come up with a solid explanation, we'd just said to let it go, since it wasn't fair on Sarah Jane. Once everyone was convinced and they began to leave, we got a taxi home (the nearest bus-stop was a twenty minute walk away, and neither me or Clyde felt comfortable in catching a bus in our current attire).

By the time we'd arrived back in Bannerman Road, Luke and me had taken the liberty to check on Sarah Jane and had found her in the attic. She'd been curled up on the settee in the attic, sobbing quietly and we'd decided to leave her alone for the time being. Meanwhile, Rani and Clyde had gone home to change and Rani had promised to bring some clothes of her own that I could borrow.

As I began to find the silence unbearable, I reached over and turned the radio on. The top forty hits began playing as I did so, and I rolled my eyes. I was beginning to get annoyed with new music here, being old music to me. Not that music in two-thousand and thirteen was any better.

"So..." I began without knowing how to finish, as the kettle began to whistle, "About earlier... I'm sorry."

Luke frowned and turned back to look at me. "'Bout what earlier?"

"When I snapped at you," I told him, pouring the water into the mugs. "I was just... on edge, and seeing the Doctor..."

"You don't call him Dad?" Luke queried, frowning further.

I hesitated, putting the kettle back down and heading for the fridge. "I do... Just not him. Not that regeneration."

"So, he's only your Dad, in the regeneration he is that you know him in?"

"That's how I see it," I nodded, pouring the milk into the mugs.

Luke stood up and walked over to me, putting his hand onto my waist and turning me around to face him. "But, Star... He's your Father."

"I know, I know, but... The him we saw today, it freaked me out," I shrugged. I most certainly did _not_ want to have this conversation.

He put his hands on my arms. "You really miss him, don't you?"

Tears began to brim in my eyes and I began to shake. He was exactly right. "Yeah..." I whispered, one tear rolling down my face. "Yeah, I really do."

The next thing I knew, he pulled me into his arms, with one arm wrapped around my back and the other cradling my head. I closed my eyes tightly, clinging to him tightly. A few tears fell and I swiftly realised this was the first time I'd cried in front of Luke. Embarrassed by this, I quickly pulled away and dried them. I chuckled, wiping at my face with my hand.

"You're lucky, Star," he told me, his arms still wrapped around me, "You do have both parents."

"Yeah," I chuckled, "A Dad who disappears for four months and comes back in his previous life without a clue who I am and a psychopathic, murderer Mother, who I get to see six times throughout the course of my life. Yeah, lucky me."

"And then there's me," Luke pointed out, "Genetically engineered by a machine to destroy the world. I wasn't born; I was made."

I looked down. "The situations are too different to compare," I muttered, "Besides, you have Sarah Jane. She's always there. And you have Clyde and Luke. And most of all, you have me."

I found what I'd just said strange. I hadn't meant to say it, I hadn't meant to say anything. It was one of those situations where you had no idea what you were saying and the words just poured out.

I felt Luke's hand beneath my chin and he pushed my face up, to look at me. His eyes met mine and we both smiled.

"You mean it?" he asked.

I shut my eyes for a second, every possible answer running through my mind. I didn't know how to reply. I did mean it, of course I did. I'd always be there. Not just for Luke; for anyone. For Clyde, Rory, Amy, Sarah Jane, Rani, Mum (if I _could_ be there) and Dad. But most of all, Luke. I knew that everyone I cared about wouldn't be in my life forever- I knew that more than anyone else. But really, Luke was the one person I would put up a fight for. The one person I always wanted by my side. Always and forever.

"I do," I said, opening my eyes again, "Yeah, 'course I do."

His smile grew as he looked at me. "Yeah?"

"Yeah!" I giggled, just before he thrust his lips upon mine. I smiled into the kiss, feeling his breath on me.

Once he'd pulled away, I looked back at him. "Tips from Clyde?" I asked. It was meant to sound like I was teasing him, but I was serious. He hadn't acted like this around me before.

"What?" He looked slightly offended. "No... I... I just did what felt right."

I chuckled. "Yeah... I thought so," I grinned, pecking his lips back. "I really, _really,_ don't want to be without you."

"You won't be," he told me, "I promise."

"You do?" I asked, taking a hold of his hands that were around my waist and they dropped in between our sides.

He nodded. "And I was wondering... I think we should tell Mum. About us, I mean."

My face grew in surprise. "You do?"

"She likes you. I really don't think she'll be mad, or upset, or... Anything like that," Luke went on, "I genuinely think she'll be happy for us."

I frowned. "You _really _think that Sarah Jane Smith would get mad over us being together? I really can't picture that," I giggled, "I can picture her being shocked, but not angry. And of course she likes me! Who doesn't? Well... Don't answer that."

Luke missed the humour. Well, maybe he'd ignored it. You couldn't always tell with him. Instead, he just nodded.

"Is the tea done?" he questioned.

"Yeah," I answered, "Let's wait for Clyde and Rani, though, yeah. I don't want to confess the truth about us to your Mother in _this _dress."

"What is so bad about wearing a dress?" he asked.

"It's a dress," I shrugged, "At least it's not pink."

Luke shook his head, not at all understanding my recently discovered hatred for dresses and feminine things. It still surprised me really. I supposed I just couldn't be bothered with my appearance when there was a chance of aliens invading. That travelling between the seconds, or whatever it was, had definitely made my hair go crazy again. The way it had been set out was supposed to make it look like nothing had ever happened, but the travelling had clearly taken a toll on my frizzy hair. The second we'd got inside, I'd borrowed one of Sarah Jane's hair-bands and tied the mess back, tightly.

"Anyway, I've been meaning to ask; why were you so certain something was up with Peter?" he questioned, changing the subject.

I shrugged and turned around, back to finishing the tea. "Sometimes the easiest way to fall into the trap is to believe the happy side of the story," I explained, "You know, people forget the consequences. Not many people know that, but Sarah Jane does. No one more than her. Clyde noticed it before me, but I just.. I don't know." I sighed and stopped. "Does this even matter now? It's over."

"Yes, it does matter," Luke replied, "And it's more than that."

I sighed again. "Okay, well... Sarah Jane travelled with my Dad and then he left her. And that's what he does. Sometimes he comes back, sometimes he doesn't. And both Sarah Jane and me are few of the lucky ones who he comes back for," I shook my head and turned back around to face him, "I didn't know he as going to show up today, because that's how it works. You never know when he will turn up next. Every time he turns up, you need him. But every time you need him... He's not always there. Do you understand?"

Luke stared at me blankly.

"Are you confused?" I asked.

"I... I think so," he replied.

"Have you ever been confused before?" I questioned.

"No..." he shook his head slowly.

I chuckled, feeling a sense of self-pride. "Okay, the simple explanation," I went on, "My Dad cares about Sarah Jane and so do I. I guess I just feel I have to... Well, not exactly keep her safe, but... You know? Keep an eye on her. That sorta thing."

He nodded. "Okay, I understand now," he smiled, "And thank you."

"You're welcome," I smiled, "Now promise me something?"

"Anything."

"We can never tell Sarah Jane this. She doesn't want some teenage Time-Lady protecting her," I grinned.

Luke chuckled and wrapped his arm back around me. "There, you definitely right."

"Oh, Luke," I shook my head, cheekily, "Have you really not noticed yet. I am _always _right."

* * *

**AN: ONE CHAPTER LEFT! **

**And this is where I'm really horrible. I won't be on for a week, meaning you're going to have to wait at least 8 days for an update. Sorry! :( But, straight away after, the next story will be uploaded, which will be fabulous! :D **

**Thanks for reviewing Melody The Superhero & Winglessangel'94! :)**

**Would mean a lot if the rest of you reviewed! :) **

**x**


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